Novel reconfigurable semiconductor photonic crystal-MEMS device

Abstract

We present a novel device concept for a reconfigurable optoelectronic integrated circuit (OEIC) that can be reprogrammed for many different functionalities. We report on our preliminary design, modeling, and fabrication of a semiconductor based photonic crystal (PhC) nano-membrane device with MEMS activated waveguide which is the basic building block of the reconfigurable OEIC. We have developed a technique to fabricate such a three-dimensional device on GaAs–AlGaAs epitaxial layers grown on a GaAs substrate. The device has a top PhC membrane layer structure composed of hexagonal holes in a triangular lattice. Below that, a separate suspended bridge layer or cantilever layer can insert a line of posts into the PhC holes to create a defect line that forms or alters an optical waveguide. This MEMS feature can generate/cancel a section of the waveguide in the PhC platform, or (by partial removal) it can change the dispersion of the waveguide. Therefore, the same structure can be actively reconfigured as different types of waveguide devices.