Fatigue Characteristics of the Si Moveable Comb Inserted into MEMS Optical Devices

Takayuki SHIMAZU
Makoto KATAYAMA
Yoshitada ISONO

Publication
IEICE TRANSACTIONS on Electronics   Vol.E88-C    No.5    pp.1020-1024
Publication Date: 2005/05/01
Online ISSN: 
DOI: 10.1093/ietele/e88-c.5.1020
Print ISSN: 0916-8516
Type of Manuscript: Special Section PAPER (Joint Special Section on Recent Progress in Optoelectronics and Communications)
Category: Optical Passive Devices and Modules
Keyword: 
silicon-cantilever,  fatigue,  S-N curve,  Weibull distribution,  FIT number,  

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Summary: 
This paper focuses on the fatigue characteristics of the single crystal silicon (SC-Si) cantilever in relation with the critical design of micro electro-mechanical systems (MEMS). Development of MEMS actuators for optical communication usage is carried out successfully, for example, in optical switches and variable optical attenuators (VOA). In those devices, fatigue characteristics of the MEMS structure are crucial to its practical application. However, fatigue tests using real structures have not been carried out well. In this research, the fatigue life has been inspected at the actual device, under actual usage conditions for the first time. We obtained fracture rate λ from experimental results, and the value of Failure in Time (FIT) λ was about 0.3 FIT. This result indicates that these MEMS devices having enough reliability for practical usage.