With the rapid development of information technology and optical communication technology, a new area of MEMS is the combination of MEMS and optics, that is, to integrate basic technologies such as microelectronics, micromechanics, and optoelectronics for developing new optical devices, called micro-opto-electromechanical systems (optical MEMS). By this, various MEMS structural parts with micro-optical devices, optical waveguide devices, semiconductor laser devices, and photoelectric detection devices can be fully integrated. The achived devices can not only form new functional systems but also have the merits of small size, low cost, mass production, an so on. In this field, our team mainly focuses on MEMS micromirrors, especially on the related research of electrothermal MEMS micromirrors.

Compared with electrostatic, electromagnetic, and piezoelectric MEMS micromirrors, MEMS electrothermal micromirrors feature with low driving voltage and large deflection angle, which have become innovative solutions for advanced high-end application scenarios. Micro optical coherence tomography (OCT) endoscopic imagers, micro Fourier transform spectrometers (FTS), optical communications, and AR/VR displays, just to name a few. At present, our team is carrying out the related scientific research work including: optimization design, fabrication, drive control and peripheral circuit design. The corresponding achivements have been published as invention patents.

Fig. 1 MEMS electrothermal micromirror^[1]

Fig. 2 The control circuit architecture of MEMS electrothermal micromirrors^[2]

References

[1] Zhou L, Zhang X, Xie H. An electrothermal Cu/W bimorph tip-tilt-piston MEMS mirror with high reliability[J]. Micromachines, 2019, 10(5): 323.

[2] Wang W, Chen J, Zivkovic A S, et al. A Fourier transform spectrometer based on an electrothermal MEMS mirror with improved linear scan range[J]. Sensors, 2016, 16(10): 1611.