Patent ID: 7573578

Claim:
A micro-electrical mechanical system apparatus, comprising: a movable partially reflecting mirror; a fixed partially reflecting mirror, wherein the movable and fixed mirrors together define a cavity between the mirrors, and further wherein the mirrors are each oriented to reflect light in a direction substantially parallel to upper and lower planar surfaces of a wafer to further define the cavity between the mirrors, and further wherein the cavity is variable in size in a direction substantially parallel to the upper and lower planar surfaces, and further wherein each mirror is disposed within the wafer such that light passes through the fixed partially reflecting mirror to enter the cavity between the mirrors; and a photonic band-gap structure on a surface of at least one of the movable or fixed mirrors, the photonic band-gap structure comprising alternate layers of relatively high refractive index materials and air, wherein the layers together are configured to achieve a desired level of finesse for a corresponding Fabry-Perot filter.