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Integrated silicon photonic MEMS
Niels Quack1,2, Alain Yuji Takabayashi1, Hamed Sattari1,3
1École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), 1015 Lausanne, Switzerland.
Microsystems & Nanoengineering
|March 23, 2023
Summary
Silicon photonics faces integration challenges due to device size and power consumption. Integrating microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) offers a solution, enabling scalable silicon photonic integrated circuits for diverse applications.
Area of Science:
- Photonics and Materials Science
- Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
Background:
- Silicon photonics is a mature technology crucial for optical communications, sensing, computing, and quantum processing.
- Standardized manufacturing enables high-volume silicon photonics, but limitations exist in modulator footprint and power consumption.
Purpose of the Study:
- To introduce a novel silicon photonic microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) platform.
- To overcome limitations in silicon photonics for large-scale integration.
Main Methods:
- Integration of nano-opto-electromechanical devices with standard silicon photonics foundry components.
- Wafer-level sealing, flip-chip bonding, and fiber-array attachment for reliable interfacing.
- Experimental demonstration of fundamental silicon photonic MEMS circuit elements.
Main Results:
- Demonstrated compact, low-loss, broadband, and fast MEMS-based photonic circuit elements.
- Successfully integrated MEMS devices with silicon photonics for enhanced functionality.
- Validated wafer-level sealing and advanced interfacing for reliability and high port count.
Conclusions:
- The silicon photonic MEMS platform addresses previous integration impediments.
- Enables scaling to very large photonic integrated circuits.
- Paves the way for advanced applications in telecommunications, computing, sensing, and quantum technologies.
