a crystalline silicon layer 32 overlying an insulating substrate 34 fig6 a although other types of substrates may alternatively be used as is known in the mems art to begin the process fig6 b gaps 36 surrounding the hinge are opened in silicon layer 32 by deep reactive ion etching drie or another suitable process layer 32 is then overlaid with a polymer or porous filler 38 fig6 c which fills gaps 36 the filler may comprise for example pdms which is applied by spin coating filler 38 is then etched down fig6 d thus removing the excess filler material and exposing layer 32 while leaving filler material 40 in gaps 36 to form the mems structures a photolithographic etching process is applied to layer 32 fig6 e creating spaces 42 between mirror 24 base 22 and other moving elements including the mirror hinges to allow the mirror to move freely over a large range substrate 34 may optionally be thinned away from the back side of the mirror and hinges fig6 f the wafer is then diced and assembly of the scanner is completed as described for example in the documents cited in the background section above although the embodiments described above relate particularly to scanning mirrors the principles of the present invention may similarly be applied in other types of devices particularly although not exclusively mems devices some examples are shown in the figures that follow fig7 is a schematic side view of an inertial sensor 50 in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention sensor 50 may serve.