A porous silicon thermally tunable optical filter

Da Song; Natalya Tokranova; Alison Gracias; James Castracane

doi:10.1117/12.759165

9 February 2008 A porous silicon thermally tunable optical filter

Da Song, Natalya Tokranova, Alison Gracias, James Castracane

Proceedings Volume 6887, MOEMS and Miniaturized Systems VII; 68870C (2008) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.759165
Event: MOEMS-MEMS 2008 Micro and Nanofabrication, 2008, San Jose, California, United States

Abstract

Porous silicon (PSi) is a promising material for the creation of optical components for chip-to-chip interconnects because of its unique optical properties, flexible fabrication methods and integration with conventional CMOS material sets. In this paper, we present a novel active optical filter made of PSi to select desired optical wavelengths. The tunable membrane type optical filter is based on a Fabry-Perot interferometer employing two Bragg reflectors separated by an adjustable air gap, which can be thermally controlled. The Bragg reflectors contain alternating layers of high and low porosities. These layers were created by electrochemical etching of p+ type silicon wafers by varying the applied current during etching process. Micro bimorph actuators are designed to control the movement of the top DBR mirror, which changes the cavity thickness. By varying the applied current, the proposed filter can tune the transmitted wavelength of the optical signal. Various geometrical shapes and sizes ranging from 100μm to 1mm of the active filtering region have been realized for specific applications. The MOEMS technology-based device fabrication is fully compatible with the existing IC mass fabrication processes, and can be integrated with a variety of active and passive optical components to realize inter-chip or intra-chip communication at the system level at a relatively low cost.

Citation Download Citation

Da Song, Natalya Tokranova, Alison Gracias, and James Castracane "A porous silicon thermally tunable optical filter", Proc. SPIE 6887, MOEMS and Miniaturized Systems VII, 68870C (9 February 2008); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.759165

ACCESS THE FULL ARTICLE

INSTITUTIONAL
Select your institution to access the SPIE Digital Library.

SELECT YOUR INSTITUTION

PERSONAL
Sign in with your SPIE account to access your personal subscriptions or to use specific features such as save to my library, sign up for alerts, save searches, etc.

PERSONAL SIGN IN

No SPIE Account? Create one

PURCHASE THIS CONTENT

SUBSCRIBE TO DIGITAL LIBRARY

50 downloads per 1-year subscription

Members: $195

Non-members: $335 ADD TO CART

25 downloads per 1 - year subscription

Members: $145

Non-members: $250 ADD TO CART

PURCHASE SINGLE ARTICLE

Includes PDF, HTML & Video, when available

Members: $17.00

Non-members: $21.00 ADD TO CART

PROCEEDINGS
9 PAGES

DOWNLOAD PAPER SAVE TO MY LIBRARY

GET CITATION

RIGHTS & PERMISSIONS

Get copyright permission Get copyright permission on Copyright Marketplace

KEYWORDS

Actuators

Silicon

Optical filters

Reflectivity

Microopto electromechanical systems

Electrochemical etching

Optical components

Show All Keywords

Keywords/Phrases

Search In:

Publication Years