silicon carbide (sic) is studied as a material for micromechanics because of its high-temperature microelectronics capabilities and excellent mechanical properties. fabrication of epitaxial 3c-sic microstructures by bulk micromachining of the underlying silicon substrate and amorphous sic microstructures by surface micromachining is investigated. preliminary studies of the mechanical properties of epitaxial 3c-sic films deposited on silicon are carried out to evaluate the potential of these films as a material for micromechanics. the residual stress and young's modulus of 3c-sic films are measured by load-deflection measurements of suspended diaphragms. the film's residual stress is tensile with an average of 275+or-45 mpa, while the in-plane young's modulus averages 383+or-25 gpa. the bending moment due to the residual stress variation through the thickness of the film is determined by measuring the deflection curves of free-standing 3c-sic cantilever beams. amorphous sic films sputtered from a sic target are investigated for developing a sic surface micromachining process