MOEMS: Towards Nano Approach for Technology & Devices

Micro Opto Electro Mechanical Systems (MOEMS) contain movable components that have an effect on an optical signal that is pointed at the surface of this optical component. Silicon or or some selected compound semiconductor can be micro machined and this micromachining have the advantage of small scale and easy integration with electronic circuits and sensors, resulting in the production of miniaturized and smart micro-systems with moving parts. The size of MOEMS devices is immediately compatible with the size of integrated optics (IO), and is appropriate to control or manipulate optical radiations. This Technology is therefore suitable to fabricate precision-defined optical components and offers relative easy alignment procedures of optical parts. MOEMS technology has benefited from the integration of microstructures with free-space micro-optics and guided wave optics. Much novel architecture including micro mirrors, micro lenses, modulators and switches, micro choppers, micro platforms for integrated optics, fiber optics, scanners, optically driven actuators, integrated optical sensors, and other devices with optical functions have been developed. In this paper we focus our attention on MOEMS, combining micro machined structures and optical waveguides on silicon substrate. MOEMS are fabricated by batch process, these devices are potentially low cost, and their monolithic structure improves their reliability. This approach of integrating optics with micromechanics has applications for integrated sensors, micro actuators, Optical adaptors and in optical communication.