Hi, Gareth Hougham:

Classic hinge designs can be found in the following two papers:
(1) K. S. J. Pister, M. W. Judy, S. R. Burgett, and R. S. Fearing,
Microfabricated hinges,Sens. Actuators (A), vol. 33, pp. 249-256, 1992.
(2) Alois Friedberger and Richard S. Muller, Improved Surface-Micromachined
Hinges for Fold-Out Structures, JOURNAL OF MICROELECTROMECHANICAL SYSTEMS, VOL.
7, NO. 3, pp. 315-319, Sept 1998.

They work fine under no-so heavy load, for example, a hinge of 2um x 2um cross-
section can be used to support a polysilicon plate of 300um x 300um x 3.5um
(covered with a Au layer of 0.5 um). But we don't have experience with heavy
load. Only for your reference.

Best Regards,

Zhang Xuming  Simon
Research Associate
Photonics Lab 1, School of Electrical & Electronic Engineering
Nanyang Technological University (NTU), Singapore
S1-B3a-08, 50 Nanyang Avenue 639798
Tel: (65) 6790 5461   Fax: (65) 6790 4161