MEMS for optical attenuation
Bookham has designed and patented three-dimensional MEMS structures with micro-shutters to produce optical attenuation with analogue control. To successfully commercialise these component parts, Bookham has designed them as generic building blocks that are readily integrated into modules such as dynamic transmitters and receivers.
Colibrys has established fabrication of a MEMS die that embodies the Bookham designs. A dedicated snap-apart method has been deployed for the MEMS-wafer dicing process as a replacement for standard semiconductor dicing strategies that are unsuitable for these categories of MEMS devices. The snap-apart approach delivers high-yield separation (singulation) of the MEMS chips in a manner compatible with standard pick-and-place semiconductor equipment and ensures reliability by avoiding particulate generation.
"The combination of Bookham’s world class designers with Colibrys’ state of the art fabrication has produced a die that is an order of magnitude smaller than its nearest rival," claims Steve Turley, Bookham’s chief commercial officer.
