Patent ID: 8003427

Claim:
A method for fabricating a tunable cavity resonator having a pair of reflectors, one being disposed in fixed relationship to a substrate material and the other being a suspended moveable membrane disposed a cavity length from the one reflector, and a pair of electrodes either being constituted by the reflectors or being juxtaposed therewith, one electrode with the one reflector and the other electrode with the other reflector, the method comprising: depositing a first reflector layer on a substrate to form the one reflector of the cavity resonator; forming a sacrificial layer on the first reflector layer; forming the membrane on the sacrificial layer; depositing a second reflector layer on the membrane to form the other reflector; patterning the second reflector layer in accordance with a prescribed membrane geometry; etching the second reflector layer and the membrane to achieve said prescribed membrane geometry; and etching the sacrificial layer to release the membrane and suspend it in substantially parallel relation to the first reflector layer, wherein the method further comprises protecting regions of the sacrificial layer constituting a support structure for suspending the membrane with photoresist.