Design and characterization of MEMS optical devices using slot-ring resonator for low-voltage operation

Abstract

To realize MEMS optical devices with low-voltage operation of less than 1 V, we have proposed a slot-ring resonator with a beam structure. The performance of the proposed device is investigated. From the simulation, a more than 10 dB extinction ratio is estimated at a low voltage of 0.5 V, when the slot waveguide width is 250 nm and the slot width is 50 nm. We succeeded in the fabrication of the proposed device structure, and improvement of the quality factor (from 6400 to 14000) is achieved by changing the lithography process. The modulating operation is confirmed but the extinction ratio is lower than the simulated value. There are several considerable reasons for this low extinction ratio, such as non-optimal carrier concentration in slot waveguides and nonparallel arrangement of slot waveguides and so on. Optimizing the fabrication processes will solve this, and the expected high performance will be achieved.