The reply from the Lucent person is on the mark.

You may also consider the use of low-stress deposited nitrides,
specifically designed for MEMS.  A variety of places offer deposition
services for these films, although I cannot vouch for the quality or
reproducibility of any of them, having not used them.  Note, however,
that the low stress nitride typically does not hold up as well during
subsequently wet etch, e.g. KOH.  Also, etching will affect fracture
(for instance, SiO2 etches in KOH, albeit at a slower rate than Si).

Al

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Albert K. Henning, Ph.D.
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