Towards MEMS-based infrared tunable microspectrometers

Silicon nitride membrane based MEMS technologies are used in numerous optical micro-systems for many practical applications. In recent years significant effort has been invested into miniaturization of present spectrometers leading to development of compact systems based on linear detector arrays. However, further miniaturization requires the application of MEMS technology. MEMS based micro-Fabry-Perot cavity structures with a flexible mirrors operating in the visible and near infrared range have already been demonstrated. Extension of the technology to mid- (MWIR-3μm to 5μm) and long-wave infrared (LWIR - 8μm to 12μm) seems to be a natural development. However, this requires much larger deflection of the movable mirror of the Fabry-Perot cavity: ~1μm for 3μm to 5μm and ~2μm for 8μm to 12μm wavelengths range. Consequently, precise control of the intrinsic stress in the silicon nitride support film is needed. Our experiments show that suitable silicon nitride properties can be obtained by carefully controlling the process parameters during plasma enhanced CVD growth. In addition to the material requirements, the mechanical structure of the flexible mirror is also important. In order to optimize the mirror structure/shape, finite element analysis was undertaken. The results show that for certain silicon nitride support shapes and thicknesses, mirror deflections needed for both the MWIR and LWIR wavelength regions are possible.

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