Patent ID: 7153716

Claim:
A method of fabricating a micro-electrical-mechanical system (MEMS) device, the method comprising: preparing a substrate having a first side, a second side, a first semiconductor layer on the first side, a second semiconductor layer on the second side, and a sacrificial layer sandwiched between the first and second semiconductor layers, the substrate including a plurality of chip areas, each chip area including a peripheral area and an interior area disposed within the peripheral area; selectively etching the substrate from both the first side and the second side to remove part of the first semiconductor layer and part of the second semiconductor layer from the interior area of each chip area without removing the sacrificial layer, thereby leaving a frame in the peripheral area and forming, within each interior area, a microstructure having a movable member, the movable member being immobilized to the frame by the sacrificial layer; preparing a sheet having an adhesive surface; attaching the adhesive surface of the sheet to the remaining parts of the second side of the substrate; dicing the substrate from the first side down at least to the adhesive surface of the sheet, thereby dividing the substrate into chips; etching exposed parts of the sacrificial layer, thereby freeing the movable member from the frame, after the substrate has been diced into chips; and detaching the chips from the sheet.