Materials Development and Processing for Fabrication of a Microdynamical Optical Switch (REU SUPPLEMENT)

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The objective of this work is to develop the materials and processing capabilities required to fabricate an optical micro-switch for fiber optic networks. The switch consists of a polymer channel waveguide fabricated on a cantilevered micromechanical beam. This beam can be coupled to one of the two stationary polymer guides using an electrostatic comb drive. All three polymer guides are coupled to fiber pigtails via V-groove alignment. The use of polymer waveguides instead of fibers drastically reduces the reduces the required motion for alignment (and therefore the required switching power). Micromechanics, in addition to producing the switching action, makes fiber alignment and packaging relatively straightforward. Fabrication of such a device will require the marriage of high aspect ratio x-ray lithography fabrication and polymer processing. The micromechanical switch is fabricated in metal because of its superior mechanical properities. The optical waveguides are fabricated using polymers whose optical properties can be tailored for a variety of applications. The materials challenges to be addressed include the tailoring of the mechanical properties of electroplated metal films, the control of the optical properties of polymers, and the understanding of the long term reliability of the materials used. This device represents a synthesis of polymer, x-ray lithographic, and micromechanical processing. The materials and processes developed for this work will be useful for a wide array of applications in solid state circuits, sensors and actuators, and photonics.