This paper presents AlScN piezoelectric two-axis MEMS mirrors with gimbal-less and gimbaled designs fabricated in a CMOS-compatible manner. Integrated piezoelectric sensors provided feedback signals of the actual mirror positions. The mirror with a diameter of 1.5 mm possessed adjustable optical tilt angles of up to 22.6° @ 30 V, with a high resonance frequency of about 8.2 kHz, while the 3 mm mirror reached 48.5° @ 41 V. The mirror with the gimbaled structure exhibited an excellent field of view and good mechanical decoupling. Additionally, a significant improvement in mirror scanning performance was observed in a vacuum (4 Pa), proving that the optical field of view was magnified by more than a factor of 10.
Accurate and efficient measurements of the piezoelectric properties of AlN and AlScN films are very important for the design and simulation of micro-electro-mechanical system (MEMS) sensors and actuator devices. In this study, a process control monitor (PCM) structure compatible with the device manufacturing process is designed to achieve accurate determination of the piezoelectric coefficients of MEMS devices. Double-beam laser interferometry (DBLI) and laser Doppler vibrometry (LDV) measurements are applied and combined with finite element method (FEM) simulations, and values of the piezoelectric parameters d33 and d31 are simultaneously extracted. The accuracy of d31 is verified directly by using a cantilever structure, and the accuracy of d33 is verified by in situ synchrotron radiation X-ray diffraction; the comparisons confirm the viability of the results obtained by the novel combination of LDV, DBLI and FEM techniques in this study.
We previously designed a dual-axis piezoelectric MEMS mirror with a low crosstalk gimbal structure, which is utilized as the key device for further research for laser beam scanning. This paper mainly focuses on studying the Lissajous scanning resolution of this MEMS mirror with frequency ratio and phase modulation. For accurately evaluating the scanning resolution, the center angular resolution of Lissajous scanning is redefined by theoretical calculation and verified with experimental measurement. Meanwhile, the scanning nonlinearity of MEMS mirror is studied carefully. Finally, the MEMS mirror works at the state of pseudo-resonance, and the center angular resolution better than 0.16° (H) × 0.03° (V) is achieved at a scanning Field of view (FoV) of 35.0° (H) × 16.5° (V). Moreover, a feasible route of resolution adjustable Lissajous scanning is provided by optimization of frequency ratio and phase modulation, which is helpful for high definition and high frame rate (HDHF) laser scanning imaging with the dual-axis mirror.
This work presents a MEMS fast steering mirror fabricated by an 8-inch AlScN platform, with a large optical aperture of up to 10 mm and high surface quality (RMS < 20 nm, PV < 120 nm), intended for free-space optical communication. The device comprises a high reflective mirror plate, a pillar and four cantilever beams with AlScN thin films. This device is prepared by a wafer-level eutectic bonding process. A reinforcement structure is proposed to increase the resonant frequency and the resistance to deformation. The mechanical performance, including resonant frequency, step response, linearity, and long-term stability are characterized. The maximum tilting angle is 1.38 mrad at 68 V, the settling time is improved from 400 ms in the open-loop control mode to 0.5 ms with the double step algorithm. The relationship of the resonant frequency, surface figure, and the depth of reinforced ribs is studied through characterizing devices with different depths of reinforced ribs. The bonding quality and the mutual melting states of bonding layers interface are investigated.
Microelectromechanical system (MEMS) Fabry-Perot fiber-integrated pressure sensor exhibits a compact size, intrinsic safety, and high precision measurement. Here, a MEMS Fabry-Perot interferometer sensor is presented. The sensor is fabricated using a standard microfabrication process with a uniformity of 80%. The sensor enables a pressure measurement range of 0–10 MPa with a full-scale nonlinearity error of 1.44% and a repeatability error of 2.14%. A limit of detection of 1.74 kPa and a pressure resolution of 0.017% are achieved. The comparative experiment is conducted to verify the wavelength tracking method is more robust than cavity length demodulation method in this configuration. Moreover, the temperature drift is alleviated by combining a fiber Bragg grating sensor for compensation in a range of -35–88 °C, which is reduced by 15 times to 2.88 ppm/°C. The proposed sensor has wide potential applications, such as downhole environments and petroleum pipeline pressure monitoring.