Mach-Zehnder MEMS interferometer with two Si/Air beam splitters

In this work we present a novel MEMS interferometer based on the Mach-Zehnder (MZ) architecture. The interferometer is fabricated by deep reactive ion etching (DRIE) technology on an SOI wafer. The new structure is based on the use of two Si/Air beam splitters and two metallic mirrors, integrated with a comb drive actuator on a single die. The whole structure is integrated on one chip and no parts are assembled from outside the structure. By moving the mirrors using the integrated comb drive actuator, the structure is tested as an FTIR spectrometer. The two wavelengths 1525 nm and 1575 nm have been successfully identified using it.