Very Large Scale Integration of MOEMS Mirrors, MEMS Angular Amplifiers and High-voltage, High-density IC Electronics for Photonic Switching

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The demand for communication bandwidth together with advances in MEMS (micro-electro-mechanical systems) technology has spurred rapid development in the field of MOEMS (micro-optical-electrical mechanical systems). One exciting opportunity is in the area of photonic switching. MOEMS mirror arrays are being used at the core of all-optical cross-connects, enabling switches that are transparent to network protocols, wavelengths, and bandwidth requirements. One critical factor affecting the ability to develop larger port-count switches is the scalability of the MOEMS mirror array. As the number of mirrors in an array grows by x, the number of control lines grows by nx, where n is the number of control signals for each mirror (typically 3 or 4). Passive array technology does not scale well beyond 128-256 mirrors because the density of interconnects and bond pads becomes impractical. To address the need for scalable technology, Transparent Networks has developed a series of enabling technologies to fabricate a highly integrated MOEMS mirror array. The end result is a highly integrated MOEMS mirror array capable of scaling to 4000 or more ports that meets both performance and cost requirements for successful development in the photonic switching market (fig. 5).

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Journal: TechConnect Briefs
Volume: 2, Technical Proceedings of the 2003 Nanotechnology Conference and Trade Show, Volume 2
Published: February 23, 2003
Pages: 428 - 431
Industry sectors: Advanced Materials & Manufacturing | Sensors, MEMS, Electronics
Topic: MEMS & NEMS Devices, Modeling & Applications
ISBN: 0-9728422-1-7