A reflective modulator based on silicon micromechanics

Many applications display a distinctly asymmetric traffic profile. Large traffic volume, for instance video data, travels in the downstream direction but only moderate bandwidth is carried in the opposite direction (service requests, telemetry, POTS). Therefore, solutions that trade reflective modulation speed for a cost advantage can be very attractive. It has been noted that a Fabry-Perot resonator fabricated in silicon micro-technology is a promising candidate to realise this cost advantage. We discuss the design and performance of a (3 Mbit/s) micro-mechanical Fabry-Perot reflective modulator.