Free-space tunable and drop optical filters using vertical Bragg mirrors on silicon

Abstract

Vertical Bragg grating mirrors are realized by the anisotropic etching of Si using deep reactive ion etching (DRIE), thus producing multiple vertical interfaces between Si and air. The Bragg mirrors are used to realize two optical filter configurations. The first is a tunable Fabry-Pérot cavity composed of two mirrors, where tuning is achieved by moving one of the mirrors using silicon-on-insulator (SOI) electrostatic microelectromechanical system (MEMS) actuation. The second is a drop filter, where a tilted Bragg mirror acts as a wavelength selective reflector. The enhanced etching process involving a mix of cryogenic and Bosch DRIE processes is presented. The realized structures, fabrication process, as well as measured performance are also presented. © 2006 IEEE.