MEMS VOA based on torsional and bending attenuation mechanisms using piezoelectric cantilever integrated with 1×10 PZT thin film actuators

Author

Koh, Kah How ; Kobayashi, Takeshi ; Lee, Chengkuo

Author_Institution

Dept. of Electr. & Comput. Eng., Nat. Univ. of Singapore, Singapore, Singapore

fYear

2010

fDate

14-16 Dec. 2010

Firstpage

1

Lastpage

5

Abstract

A gold coated silicon mirror (5 mm × 5mm) actuated by piezoelectric Pb(Zr, Ti)O₃ (PZT) cantilever beams has been investigated for variable optical attenuator applications. The device is micromachined from a SOI substrate with 5μm thick Si device layer, with multi-layers of Pt/Ti/PZT/Pt/Ti deposited as electrode materials. A large Si mirror plate and a 1×10 arrayed PZT cantilevers arranged in parallel are formed after the release process. The ten cantilevers are designed to be electrically isolated from one another. A dual core fiber collimator is aligned perpendicularly to the mirror in a three-dimensional (3-D) light attenuation arrangement. Two modes of attenuation mechanisms were investigated based on bending and torsional effects. A dynamic attenuation range of 40dB achieved at 1V and 1.8V for bending and torsional mode respectively.

Keywords

bending; cantilevers; elemental semiconductors; gold; micromachining; micromirrors; optical attenuators; optical collimators; optical multilayers; piezoelectric actuators; silicon; silicon-on-insulator; thin film devices; torsion; Au-Si; MEMS VOA; PZT thin film actuator; SOI substrate; Si mirror plate; arrayed PZT cantilever; bending attenuation mechanism; dual core fiber collimator; electrode material; gold coated silicon mirror; micromachining; multilayer; optical attenuator; piezoelectric cantilever; three-dimensional light attenuation arrangement; torsional attenuation mechanism; voltage 1 V; voltage 1.8 V; Attenuation; Laser beams; Measurement by laser beam; Micromechanical devices; Mirrors; Optical attenuators; Structural beams;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Photonics Global Conference (PGC), 2010

Conference_Location

Singapore

Print_ISBN

978-1-4244-9882-6

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/PGC.2010.5705964

Filename

5705964