Patent ID: 8851442

Claim:
A mold for creating device structures comprising: a substrate; a removable aerogel-based layer over a portion of the substrate, wherein the aerogel-based layer: comprises an aerogel that is at least about 95% gas by volume; has thickness between about 100 nm and about 1 mm; and comprises a metal oxide and a structural feature having a surface contour that is substantially the same as a surface contour of at least part of a microelectromechanical feature; and a dense material layer over the surface contour of the structural feature of the aerogel-based layer, wherein a portion of the dense material layer is directly attached to another portion of the substrate, the dense material layer comprising at least part of the microelectromechanical feature; wherein the aerogel-based layer is removable from the substrate without substantial degradation of the dense material layer.