Optical fibre switches based on full wafer silicon micromachining

An optical (1 x 2) moving-fibre switch with bistable operation is presented . The low cost fabrication process based on bulk anisotropic Si etching for thermal actuators with cross sections of 80 x 150 mu m(2) is described. V- grooves are used for a precise alignment of the optical fibres. Switches an d switch arrays are fabricated with high yield and high mechanical stabilit y. An insertion loss of 2 dB including MT-connector losses and a cross talk below the detection limit (-60 dB) are measured. The thermally driven actu ators operate with a power <700 mW which is, due to the bistable operation, needed for 100 ms only.