Optical MEMS technology for telecommunication

This paper presents an overview of optical MEMS technology - processing, devices and reliability issues, for telecommunication applications. Common MEMS processing techniques such as surface micromachining, bulk micromachining and wafer/chip bonding are first outlined, with details and examples. For optical network infrastructure, MEMS for optical cross connects, gain equalizers, add-drop multiplexers, WDM/DWDM switches and others are highlighted. Finally, significant knowledge has been gained on MEMS failure modes, and they are presented. Such knowledge and design/processing guidelines are fundamentally critical to improvements of device lifetime and environmental robustness, which hold the key to the ultimate success of MEMS product commercialization.