Demand Drives R&D in Micro-Opto-Electro-Mechanical Systems

Commercial demand is driving high-tech research and development in micro-opto-electro-mechanical systems (MOEMS) for diverse applications such as space exploration, wireless systems, and healthcare. A new special section on Emerging MOEMS Technology and Applications in the current issue of the Journal of Micro/Nanolithography, MEMS, and MOEMS (JM3) gathers recent breakthrough achievements and explains how such innovations in the photonics field are poised to emerge in the marketplace. The journal is published by SPIE, the international society for optics and photonics.

Applications in robotics, remote chemical detection and identification, telescopes, bioimaging for clinical use, 3D imaging, and optical communications are among topics covered in the special section's 15 papers on emerging MOEMS technology applications. Articles are available by subscription or pay-per-view in the SPIE Digital Library. Chris Mack, Lithoguru.org, is Editor-in-Chief of JM3.

"This JM3 special section on emerging MOEMS comprises a collection of excellent papers emphasizing new technologies," said Ed Motamedi of Revoltech Microsystems, a guest editor of the special section. "The section includes outstanding new results in commercial research and development in photonics where micro-optics and MEMS are merged and innovative breakthrough devices come to light."

Along with Motamedi, other guest editors of the special section are Joel Kubby of the University of California, Santa Cruz; Patrick Oden of Texas Instruments Inc.; and Wibool Piyawattanametha of the National Electronics and Computer Technology Center.

The technology is well-suited to meet needs now and in the future, Motamedi said.

"Recent demands for emerging miniature components for optical communication, digital imaging, sensors and actuators, wireless systems, and adaptive optics that are low-cost with high performance and high reliability have led researchers to consider batch processing in high-cleanroom environments to be the only solution," he said. "And MEMS, MOEMS, and micro-optics all have a foundation of integrated circuits and involve batch processing in cleanrooms."

The special section features several papers related to presentations at SPIE Photonics West, the premier annual event for the international optics and photonics community, primarily conferences on MOEMS and Miniaturized Systems, MEMS Adaptive Optics, and Emerging Digital Micromirror Device Based Systems and Applications. Topics are:

• digital micromirror devices
• microscanning applications
• adaptive optics
• 3D profiling
• focusing micromirrors
• Fabry-Perot filters
• mircomachined spectrum analyzers.

The open-access article "Wavefront control in space with MEMS deformable mirrors for exoplanet direct imaging" by Kerri Cahoy, et al., of Massachusetts Institute of Technology reports a study to meet the high-contrast requirement to image an Earth-like planet around a Sun-like star. Such contrasts can be obtained through the use of active optics systems operated on space telescopes. High actuator-count deformable mirrors are a key technology for this application.

Other papers in the special section include:

• "High dynamic range digital micromirror device-based infrared scene projector," David Mansur, et al., OPTRA
• "Resonant biaxial 7-mm MEMS mirror for omnidirectional scanning," Ulrich Hofmann, Fraunhofer ISIT, et al.
• "Digital micromirror device as a diffractive reconfigurable optical switch for telecommunication," Pierre-Alexandre Blanche, et al., University of Arizona, College of Optical Sciences
• "Three-dimensional profiling using a still shot," Mahesh Kondiparthi, Indian Institute of Science
• "Cryogenic testing of a unimorph-type deformable mirror and theoretical material optimization," Matthias Goy, et al., Friedrich Schiller University of Jena, Institute of Applied Physics, Fraunhofer IOF
• "Full-frame programmable spectral filters based on micromirror arrays," Steven Love and David Graff, Los Alamos National Lab
• "Polygonal pyramidal reflector-based micromachined microscanners for bioimaging," Xiaojing Mu, National University of Singapore and A*STAR Institute of Microelectronics, et al.
• "In-plane external fiber Fabry-Perot cavity comprising silicon micromachined concave mirror," Yasser Sabry, Université Paris-Est, Lab ESYCOM, ESIEE, et al.
• "Toward real-time spectral imaging for chemical detection with a digital micromirror device-based programmable spectral filter," David Graff and Steven Love, Los Alamos National Lab
• "Development of a focusing micromirror device with an in-plane stress relief structure in silicon-on-insulator technology," Wolfgang Kronast, et al., Furtwangen University
• "Investigation of diffraction-based measurement errors in optical testing of aspheric optics with digital micromirror devices," Stephan Stuerwald and Robert Schmitt, Fraunhofer IPT
• "Quasistatic microscanner with linearized scanning for an adaptive three-dimensional laser camera" Thilo Sandner, et al., Fraunhofer IPMS
• "Design and fabrication of Fabry-Perot filters for infrared hyperspectral imagers," Michel Morley, EPIR Technologies, et al.