A lateral symmetrically bistable buckled beam

Abstract

We have micromachined a lateral symmetrically bistable buckled beam for snap-in holding structures by oxidizing released beams micromachined on thick silicon-on-insulator wafers. The wafers were prepared by bonding and chemical mechanical polishing, and the structures were fabricated by deep silicon reactive ion etching using the black silicon method, subsequently released and thermally oxidized. The bistability was monitored in situ in a scanning electron microscope using a micromanipulator. Guidelines for designing beams of an expected performance are given and arguments for considering beams that are not `fairly slender' have been found.