Fabrication of Optical Microelectromechanical-System Switches Having Multilevel Mirror-Drive Electrodes

This work describes a practical and high-yield method of fabricating optical microelectromechanical-system (MEMS) switches. The method features the use of thick-plated gold multilevel interconnections for the mirror-drive electrodes and polyimide coating to protect the fragile and easily-movable micromachined mirror. The multilevel electrode developed was over 80-µm high providing enough space for the tilting mirror placed above it. Open-short circuit yield was 100% on 6-inch wafers. All the processes for fabricating the electrodes were carried out at under 310°C, meaning the electrodes could be successively formed after mirror-control large-scale integrated circuits (LSIs) were fabricated on a wafer. The fragile mirrors are sealed in polyimide during the fabrication processes. As this method protects the mirrors against the shock and damage caused by factors such as the dicing process, it enables 3-dimensional MEMS structures that have moving portions to be handled through conventional fabrication processes without the need for any special care. The static and dynamic characteristics of the optical MEMS switches fabricated are shown.