Development of a compact optical-MEMS scanner with integrated VCSEL light source and diffractive optics

In this work the design and initial fabrication results are reported for the components of a compact optical-MEMS laser scanning system. This system integrates a silicon MEMS laser scanner, a Vertical Cavity Surface Emitting Laser (VCSEL) and passive optical components. The MEMS scanner and VCSEL are mounted onto a fused silica substrate which serves as an optical interconnect between the devices. Two Diffractive Optical Elements (DOE's) are etched into the fused silica substrate to focus the VCSEL beam and increase the scan range. The silicon MEMS scanner consists of an actuator that continuously scans the position of a large polysilicon gold-coated shuttle containing a third DOE. Interferometric measurements show that the residual stress in the 500μm × 1000μm shuttle is extremely low, with a maximum deflection of only 0.18μm over an 800 μm span for an unmetallized case and a deflection of 0.56μm for the metallized case. A conservative estimate for the scan range is approx. ±4°, with a spot size of about 0.5 mm, producing 50 resolvable spots. The basic system architecture, optical and MEMS design is reported in this paper, with an emphasis on the design and fabrication of the silicon MEMS scanner portion of the system.