Fabrication of optical switch arrays with auto-aligning fibers and latching micro-mirrors

This paper presents an innovative device for self-parking in a v-groove and a self-latching vertical mirror on the suspension diaphragm using the out of plane fiber-optical switch array technique. The self-parking offers integrating the optical fiber and mirror within the same optical switch. The self-latching vertical mirror is supported on the suspension diaphragm by four cantilever beams. The theoretical analysis includes a dynamic simulation using the ANSYS software and corner compensation using the IntelliCAD software. The fabrication process consists of wet etching micromachining, lithography, and excimer laser ablation. This proposed process is simpler than those proposed in other works. An electrostatic driving voltage is used to operate the optical switch. The mirror is made of a photoresist coating with gold film as the switching element. The reflectivity of the gold film mirror is higher than 85% using a wavelength of 1310 nm. The micro-optical switch has a maximum displacement of 48 μm and the switching time is below 0.4 ms with a driving voltage of 100 VDC.