Patent ID: 8257573

Claim:
A fabrication process for producing a microscale or mesoscale three-dimensional structure comprising at least one structural material, from a plurality of adhered layers, comprising at least one structural material and at least one sacrificial material, the process comprising: (A) forming a first layer by depositing at least one structural material and at least one sacrificial material and planarizing the at least one structural material and the at least one sacrificial material to produce a planarized layer having a desired lower boundary level and a desired upper boundary level; (B) forming a plurality of layers such that each successive layer is formed adjacent to and adhered to a previously formed layer along an axis of layer formation, wherein an initial successive layer is formed adjacent to and adhered to the first layer, and wherein said forming comprises repeating (A) multiple times; (C) after forming the plurality of layers, separating the at least one sacrificial material from the at least one structural material such that two components of the structure can move relative to one another, wherein each of the two components have at least one surface that opposes a surface of the other component wherein at least one of the opposing surfaces comprises a plurality of protrusions and the other opposing surface comprises at least one protrusion, and wherein opposing protrusions exist on different layers, wherein a lateral separation between neighboring opposing protrusions is less than a minimum feature size for a gap in structural material on a single layer; (D) displacing the two components along the axis of layer formation such that one of the plurality of protrusions is shifted relative to the at least one protrusion so that at least a portion of the protrusions at least partially align along the axis of layer formation; (E) after said displacing, translating the two components relative to one another along a path that is perpendicular to the axis of layer formation.