Electro-mechanically tunable micro Fabry-Perot filter array

We report a novel electro-mechanical tunable micro Fabry-Perot Filter (FPF) for applications in flat panel colour displays, sensors (acceleration, pressure etc.) and communications. The micro FPF is fabricated on both silicon and glass substrates. The device offers many advantages over existing surface micromachined optical technologies. The fabrication process is simple, monolithic, and does not require any high temperature step. The present device can be used in many different applications. For instance, it can be used as a colour display device by using collimated white light and appropriate mirror separation. This device requires neither as sophisticated optics nor as intense signal processing as the Digital Mirror Device (DMD).