MEMS Electrostatic Actuators for Optical Switching Applications

摘要

The techniques of microfabrication are being applied to fabricate devices suitable for a variety of requirements for optical fiber communications systems. For devices using free-space optics, actuators capable of relatively large linear and angular deflections are required for applications such as switching, filtering and variable attenuation. While devices utilizing surface micromachming have been suggested for these applications, actuators with sufficient linear or angular deflection for many applications are difficult to achieve, particularly if frictional contact between elements is avoided.