to the first substrate 310 as will be further discussed below the socket 326 may have a dimension substantially similar to the stand off structure the socket 326 may be formed simultaneously or independently of the patterning process used to form the mems device it may be advantageous to form the socket 326 simultaneously during the mems device patterning processes i e using the same mask referring to fig3 b the stand off structure is formed on the third substrate 330 the third substrate 330 includes one or more material layers similar to those described above for example the third substrate 330 includes material layers 332 334 comprising any suitable material the material layer 332 may comprise silicon and the material layer 334 may comprise germanium it is understood that the material layers are formed by any suitable process to any suitable thickness a stand off structure 336 includes a portion of the material layers 332 334 the stand off structure 336 may be formed using typical processes used in cmos fabrication for example photolithography etching processes e g wet etch dry etch plasma etch deposition processes plating processes and or other suitable processes using only a single mask for forming the stand off structure 336 on the third substrate 330 may advantageously result in decreased manufacturing costs and time the stand off structure 336 comprises any suitable.