Fiber-Pigtailed Electrothermal MEMS Iris VOA

A high-performance variable optical attenuator, which is based on an electrothermally actuated iris with a square pupil, is demonstrated. The device is fabricated from two separate dies that are formed by deep reactive ion etching of bonded silicon-on-insulator material. The iris die is inserted int...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of lightwave technology 2007-08, Vol.25 (8), p.2159-2167
Main Authors: Veladi, H., Syms, R.R.A., Zou, H.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Applied sciences
Blades
Bonding
Devices
Diffraction theory
Electronics
Electrothermal effects
Etching
Exact sciences and technology
Finite element analysis
Iris
Mathematical models
Micro- and nanoelectromechanical devices (mems/nems)
Micro-Opto-Electromechanical Systems (MOEMS)
Microelectromechanical systems (MEMS)
Microelectronic fabrication (materials and surfaces technology)
Micromechanical devices
Noise levels
Optical attenuators
Optical fiber devices
Optical fibers
Optical materials
Resonant frequencies
Semiconductor electronics. Microelectronics. Optoelectronics. Solid state devices
Silicon on insulator technology
variable optical attenuator (VOA)
Wavelengths
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Description
Summary:A high-performance variable optical attenuator, which is based on an electrothermally actuated iris with a square pupil, is demonstrated. The device is fabricated from two separate dies that are formed by deep reactive ion etching of bonded silicon-on-insulator material. The iris die is inserted into an elastic clamp on a base-plate die carrying spring-mounted fiber alignment features, allowing the iris to be held in the optical path between two expanded core fibers. A novel aperture that dynamically reduces the clearances between the shutter blades is used to achieve an extinction of 25 dB and a wavelength dependent loss of plusmn1 dB at 1550-nm wavelength. Synchronous blade motion is achieved using thermally optimized folded electrothermal actuators with undercut hot arms, which reduce the operating power to 240 mW and allow a high mechanical resonant frequency. Optical analysis is carried out using a scalar model and diffraction theory. Thermomechanical analysis is performed using a 1-D model and finite element simulation (ANSYS). Good agreement is obtained between the models and by experimentation.
ISSN:0733-8724
1558-2213
DOI:10.1109/JLT.2007.899788