Author: Wen-Cheng Kuo

 

Abstract:

This work presents a micro-electro-mechanical system 1 × 2 optical fiberswitch fabricated by a dual-thickness SOI process. The switch employs a fiber-switching mechanism which consists of comb-drive actuators and folded-beam suspensions. The design and modeling of the fiber-switching mechanism, which can effectively avoid electrostatic pull-in, is also presented. The device is realized by using a dual-thickness SOI process which can be used to create suspended microstructures with two different structure thicknesses. The measured average insertion losses for the two output channels are 0.92 dB and 0.89 dB, which satisfy the BELLCORE requirements. Also, the transient behaviors are measured. The typical switching time is about 3.5 ms.

 

 

Fig. 1. A schematic of the proposed 1 × 2 optical fiber switch at a neutral position.

 

Fig. 2. A SEM micrograph of a 1 × 2 optical fiber switch.

 

Publication:

Y.-J. Yang, W.-C. Kuo, K.-C. Fan, and W.-L. Lin, “A 1x2 optical fiber switch using a dual-thickness SOI process”, Journal of Micromechanics and Microengineering (JMM), Vol. 17, 2007, pp. 1034-1041