Integrated optical sensors using micromechanical bridges and cantilevers

Micromechanical bridges and cantilevers sensitive to external forces have been fabricated upon Si substrates. They are used as optical waveguides and part of sensor circuits. The waveguides consist of sandwiched layers of an SiO2 buffer, an Al2O3 waveguide and an SiO2 cover. The bridges and cantilevers with very small dimensions such as 100 micrometers in length, 5 micrometers in width and 2.5 micrometers in thickness have been successfully produced. Such bridge- or cantilever-shaped waveguide structures have been applied in acoustic signal detection and noise monitoring. In this paper, the bridge and cantilever structures will be analyzed and experimental results on sound measurement will be presented.