The integration of surface micromachined devices with optoelectronics: technology and applications

We describe efforts in integrating MEMS and optoelectronic or photonic functions and the fabrication constraints on both system components. The MEMS technology used in this work are silicon surface-machined systems fabricated using the SUMMiT (Sandia ultraplanar multilevel MEMS technology) process developed at Sandia. This process includes chemical-mechanical polishing as an intermediate planarization step to allow the use of 4 or 5 levels of polysilicon.