Control issues for MEMS

This paper discusses control issues for MEMS devices, starting with a brief overview of MEMS technology evolution, continuing with a characterization of increasing demand for control technology, and concluding with a case study outlining control issues in the high port count (1024×1024) photonic crossconnect. In this application, MEMS mirrors are controlled in a closed loop to deliver low-optical connection insertion loss and a high resistance to vibration, while optimizing response time. To close the control loop, extraction of reduced DOF 3D mirror models from finite element mechanical model is shown to be a very effective approach in predicting and optimizing dynamic performance of the nonlinear mirror drive. Another issue discussed is time-efficient calibration of the million optical connection points.