Monolithic suspended optical waveguides for InP MEMS

Author

Kelly, Daniel P. ; Pruessner, Marcel W. ; Amarnath, Kuldeep ; Datta, Madhumita ; Kanakaraju, S. ; Calhoun, Lynn C. ; Ghodssi, Reza

Author_Institution

Dept. of Electr. & Comput. Eng., Univ. of Maryland, College Park, MD, USA

Volume

16

Issue

5

fYear

2004

fDate

5/1/2004 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

1298

Lastpage

1300

Abstract

We present a novel waveguide design for InP microelecromechanical systems. The substrate is removed from underneath the waveguide by sacrificial etching, and the suspended waveguide is supported by lateral tethers. This allows segments of the waveguide to be moved and prevents substrate leakage loss in the fixed segments of the waveguides. A single-mask fabrication process is developed that can be extended to more complex devices employing electrostatic actuation. Fabricated suspended waveguides exhibit a loss of 2.2 dB/cm and tether pairs exhibit 0.25-dB additional loss.

Keywords

III-V semiconductors; etching; indium compounds; micro-optics; micromechanical devices; optical design techniques; optical fabrication; optical losses; optical waveguides; 0.25 dB; InP MEMS; InP microelectromechanical systems; electrostatic actuation; fabricated suspended waveguides; lateral tethers; monolithic suspended optical waveguides; sacrificial etching; single-mask fabrication process; substrate leakage loss; suspended waveguide; waveguide design; Indium phosphide; Integrated optics; Micromechanical devices; Optical device fabrication; Optical devices; Optical filters; Optical losses; Optical waveguides; Planar waveguides; Semiconductor waveguides;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Photonics Technology Letters, IEEE

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

1041-1135

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/LPT.2004.826075

Filename

1291490