Performance Evaluation of Micromechanical Binary Phase-only

This paper presents some results of our development and test efforts in micromachine design for optical modulation. In this work, we have developed, us- ing a readily available surface micromachine fabrication process (MUMPS), a series of arrayed micromirror ele- ments. These element arrays form phase-mostly spatial light modulators (SLM's), similar to Texas Instruments' flexure beam micromirror device (FBMD) (l). Character- istics that distinguish our elements from those of TI in- clude: integrated support posts to stabilize the elements at points beyond pull-in potential, non-metallic supporting structures to reduce diffractive noise, bistable drive capa- bilities without the need for transistor arrays, and greater mirror surface stability. Sections 1 and 2 describe our elements (EmBMP's). Their arrayed operation is covered in Section 3. Optical evaluations in Section 4 measure the feasibility of these devices in the application of optical interconnect, as well as bracket further discussion concerning the use and tech- nology requirements.