We present an innovative rotational MEMS mirror that can control the direction of propagation of light beams inside of
planar waveguides implemented in silicon photonics. Potential applications include but are not limited to optical
telecommunications, medical imaging, scan and spectrometry. The mirror has a half-cylinder shape with a radius of
300 μm that provides low and constant optical losses over the full angular displacement range. A circular comb drive
structure is anchored such that it allows free or latched rotation experimentally demonstrated over 8.5° (X-Y planar
rotational movement) using 290V electrostatic actuation. The entire MEMS structure was implemented using the
MEMSCAP SOIMUMPs process. The center of the anchor beam is designed to be the approximate rotation point of the
circular comb drive to counter the rotation offset of the mirror displacement. A mechanical characterization of the
MEMS mirror is presented. The latching mechanism provides up to 20 different angular locking positions allowing the
mirror to counter any resonance or vibration effects and it is actuated with an electrostatic linear comb drive. An
innovative gap closing structure was designed to reduce optical propagation losses due to beam divergence in the
interstitial space between the mirror and the planar waveguide. The gap closing structure is also electrostatically actuated
and includes two side stoppers to prevent stiction.
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