Novel MEMS technology based silicon and polymer hybrid actuator and applications as a tunable filter in telecom and in IR chemical detector

摘要

This paper presents a compliant-MEMS technology based silicon-polymer hybrid actuator and its applications to tunable optical filters for DWDM Optical Performance Monitoring (OPM), tunable external cavity lasers, Optical Spectrum Analyzers (OSA) and Infra Red (IR) chemical detectors. The C-MEMS technology provides wider tuning range, tailored spring force and low manufacturing cost. The advantages of C-MEMS technology rely on selecting optimum materials for the functioning components. The Fabry-Perot filter, TFM-2000 achieves performance of 2000 plus finesse over 40 nm tuning range with 1.5 dB insertion loss, which is better than any single pass tunable filter on the market. Fabrication processes are discussed.