Background: Switchable glasses allow the control of light transmission—an attractive property for applications such as car sunroofs, aircraft windows, building windows, augmented reality, imaging, and displays. Commercialized switchable glasses have severe limitations, such as speed, cost, and operating conditions, among others. Microshutters, a type of switchable glass with very distinctive properties, are reviewed, as they are a technology that could significantly improve some or all of the shortcomings mentioned above.

Aim: We will summarize the various types of microshutters and tentatively identify various critical designs, fabrication schemes, and performance criteria by the many research groups implementing them and investigating their properties.

Approach: We will describe the various approaches used to control light transmission through microelectromechanical systems. It will compare their performances and comment on fabrication and implementation challenges.

Conclusions: Microshutters have performance levels that could make them good candidates for switchable glasses. Many research groups have investigated various approaches to fabricate microshutters and have shown that they can be implemented reliably on a small scale, with fast actuation, low power, and high contrast and are relatively easy to manufacture. Work is needed to demonstrate that they can be scaled-up and still be economical to produce.