Design and Simulation of Silicon-based NiCrAu MEMS Torsion Micromirror with Tilted Back-electrode

Torsion micromirror is a key structure of optical devices in micro-electro-mechanical system(MEMS), such as MEMS optical switches, MEMS variable optical attenuator, MEMS scanning micromirror array and so on. A silicon-based NiCrAu MEMS torsion micromirror is theoretically analyzed. It is shown that in order to have 15° rotation, the driven voltage should be about 20V and the thickness of the supporting beam must be controlled in the range of submicron orders of magnitude. This very thin beam makes the structure more unstable and unreliable, and also makes the fabrication more complicated. Based on parallel back-electrode analysis and testing, a tilted back-electrode has been designed to replace the parallel back-electrode in order to decrease the driven voltage and difficulty of fabricating processing. By theoretical analysis and simulation, a conclusion can be drown that the thickness can be improved from submicron to micron by using tilted back-electrode when using the same driven voltage. Tilted back-electrode is very effective to improve the stability and reliability of the micromirror structure.