Abstract

The review compares GaAs micromechanics to silicon and quartz. It is shown that in micromechanics, GaAs combines the advantages of both silicon and quart. Like silicon it is semiconducting and it is possible to do advanced micromachining in GaAs. Like quartz, it is piezoelectric and may have a very high bulk resistivity. Also, with GaAs come new possibilities in integrated optoelectronics, such as lasers and photodiodes. Inspite of a lower mechanical endurance, the strength of GaAs micromechanics is sufficient for most micromechanical applications. It is concluded that GaAs has a large unexploited potential in micromechanics.