Surface-micromachined microoptical elements and systems
Surface-micromachined microoptical elements and systems
复制标题
表面微加工微光学元件和系统
DOI：
10.1109/5.704276
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发表时间：
1998
期刊：
影响因子：
--
通讯作者：
K. Lau
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
R. Muller;K. Lau
光学系统在当今的社会结构中无处不在，从复杂的光纤电信基础设施到视觉信息显示，再到日常琐事，如超市里的条形码读取。这些现有系统中的大多数都是由散装光学元件建造的，多年来一直是这样。就像小型化和批量生产使电子学发生了革命性的变化一样，光学领域的类似进步肯定会极大地扩大其应用和市场。采用新兴微电子机械系统(MEMS)技术的光学系统的生产技术为实现这一成功提供了希望。简单的微机械制造技术已经被应用到光纤组件中，以生产通常所说的硅光学平台系统。新的发展，特别是那些允许使用微驱动结构的发展，使系统复杂性的大幅增加成为可能。表面微加工，即微光学系统被批量制造并放置在硅晶片上，已经成为实现这一进展的一种有前途的方法。随着表面微机械加工的元件可以从制造它们的平面“折叠”出来的证明，一个重要的新的设计自由度出现了。本文考察了所获得的一些结果，并试图预测未来光学系统中表面微加工的可能性。
Optical systems are ubiquitous in the present-day societal fabric, from sophisticated fiber-optic telecommunication infrastructure to visual information display, down to mundane chores such as bar-code reading at the supermarket. Most of these existing systems are built from bulk optical components, as they have been for many years. Just as miniaturization and batch-process production have revolutionized electronics, similar advances in optics will certain greatly expand its applications and markets. Production techniques for optical systems that employ the emerging micro-electromechanical systems (MEMS) technologies give promise of achieving this success. Simple micromechanical fabrication techniques are already employed in fiber-optic components to produce what is generally described as silicon-optical-bench systems. New developments, especially those permitting the use of microactuated structures, make substantial increases in system sophistication possible. Surface micromachining, in which microoptical systems are batch-fabricated and placed on top of a silicon wafer, has become a promising approach to this progression. With the demonstration that surface-micromachined elements can be "folded" out from the plane in which they are constructed, an important new degree of design freedom has emerged. This paper examines some of the results obtained and attempts to project possibilities for surface micromachining in future optical systems.