Browse > Article
http://dx.doi.org/10.5370/JEET.2010.5.2.337

Piezo-electrically Actuated Micro Corner Cube Retroreflector (CCR) for Free-space Optical Communication Applications  

Lee, Duk-Hyun (Dept. of Electronic Engineering, Kwangwoon University)
Park, Jae-Y. (Dept. of Electronic Engineering, Kwangwoon University)
Publication Information
Journal of Electrical Engineering and Technology / v.5, no.2, 2010 , pp. 337-341 More about this Journal
Abstract
In this paper, an extremely low voltage operated micro corner cube retroreflector (CCR) was fabricated for free-space optical communication applications by using bulk silicon micromachining technologies. The CCR was comprised of an orthogonal vertical mirror and a horizontal actuated mirror. For low voltage operation, the horizontal actuated mirror was designed with two PZT cantilever actuators, torsional bars, hinges, and a mirror plate with a size of $400{\mu}m{\times}400{\mu}m$. In particular, the torsional bars and hinges were carefully simulated and designed to secure the flatness of the mirror plate by using a finite element method (FEM) simulator. The measured tilting angle was approximately $2^{\circ}$ at the applied voltage of 5 V. An orthogonal vertical mirror with an extremely smooth surface texture was fabricated using KOH wet etching and a double-SOI (silicon-on-insulator) wafer with a (110) silicon wafer. The fabricated orthogonal vertical mirror was comprised of four pairs of two mutually orthogonal flat mirrors with $400{\mu}m4 (length) $\times400{\mu}m$ (height) $\times30{\mu}m$ (thickness). The cross angles and surface roughness of the orthogonal vertical mirror were orthogonal, almost $90^{\circ}$ and 3.523 nm rms, respectively. The proposed CCR was completed by combining the orthogonal vertical and horizontal actuated mirrors. Data transmission and modulation at a frequency of 10 Hz was successfully demonstrated using the fabricated CCR at a distance of approximately 50 cm.
Keywords
MEMS; Orthogonal mirror; Corner cube retroreflector (CCR); Vertical silicon mirror; Piezoelectric actuation; Cantilever; Optical communication;
Citations & Related Records

Times Cited By SCOPUS : 1
연도 인용수 순위
  • Reference
1 L. Zhou, J. M. Kahn and K. S. J. Pister, "Corner-cube retroreflectors based on structure-assisted assembly for free-space optical communication," J. Microelectromech. Syst., Vol. 12, No. 3, pp. 233-242, June 2003.   DOI   ScienceOn
2 Y. K. Hong and R. R. A. Syms, "Dynamic Response Modeling of MEMS Micromirror Corner Cube Reflectors With Angular Vertical Combdrives," J. Lightwave Technol., Vol. 25, pp. 472-480, 2007.   DOI   ScienceOn
3 R. Agarwal, S. Samson, S. Kedia and S. Bhansali, "Fabrication of Integrated Vertical Mirror Surfaces and Transparent Window for Packaging MEMS Devices," J. Microelectromech. Syst., Vol. 16, No. 1, Feb. 2007.
4 C. Marxer, C. Thio, M. Gretillat, N. F. de Rooji, R. Battig, R. Anthamatten, B. Valk and P. Vogel, "Vertical mirrors fabricated by deep reactive ion etching for fiber-optic switching applications," J. Microelectromech. Syst., Vol. 6, No. 7, pp. 277-285, July 1997.   DOI   ScienceOn
5 D. Steere, A. Baptista, D. McNamee, C. Pu and J. Walpole, "Research challenges in environmental observation and forecasting systems," in Proc. ACM/IEEE MOBICOM, pp. 292-299, Aug. 2000.
6 L. Schwiebert, S. K. S. Gupta and J. Weinmann, "Research challenges in wireless networks of biomedical sensors," in Proc. ACM/IEEE MOBICOM, pp. 151-165, 2001.
7 S. D. Feller, E. Cull, D. P. Kowalski, K. Farlow, J. Burchett, J. Adleman, C. Lin and D. J. Brady, "Tracking and imaging humans on heterogeneous infrared sensor array for tactical applications," SPIE Aerosense, Apr. 2002.
8 J. Kahn, R. H. Katz and K. Pister, "Emerging Challenges: Mobile Networking for 'Smart Dust'," J. Communications and Networks, Vol. 2, No. 3, pp. 188-196, Sep., 2000.   DOI   ScienceOn
9 S. Teramoto and T. Ohtsuki, "Optical Wireless Sensor Network System Using Corner Cube Retroreflectors," J. Wireless Communications and Networking, Vol. 1, pp. 39-44, 2005.   DOI
10 D. J. Vasquez and Jack W. Judy, "Optically-Interrogated Zero-Power MEMS Magnetometer," J. Microelecmech. Syst., Vol. 16, No.2, Apr. 2007.