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To: Lee who wrote (10986)	6/21/2000 10:29:00 AM
From: pat mudge	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 24042

Lee -- Thanks for the good links. From DBAlexBrown's recently published Optical Networking report: MEMS (Micro Electro-Mechanical Systems) Optical micro electro-mechanical systems (optical MEMS) are semiconductor-based micro-machines mounting mirrors or sensors. These devices are designed to sense, control, and actuate on a micro scale. The components are manufactured using well-known integrated circuit fabrication techniques and can range in size from micrometers to millimeters. Potentially, such chips can be manufactured in large quantities at low cost, making them cost-effective for a number of applications including optical switching. Our understanding is that, although the chip part is quite easy to manufacture, mounting the mirrors on top and controlling them individually is a very difficult process especially to manufacture on scale in commercial quantities for the kind of reliability that is required. These devices incorporate both low power and small form factor and one additional benefit, namely scalability. Optical MEMS are viewed as a critical enabling technology for the development of all-optical networks because they can switch entirely in the optical domain (using mirrors) and the switches can be scaled up to the tremendous sizes required for the network core. MEMS technology is used in other industries to create devices such as pressure sensors and accelerometers.

To: Lee who wrote (10986)	6/21/2000 10:48:00 AM
From: pat mudge	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 24042

The following article on tunable lasers mentions problems with MEMS: techweb.com Another option is to abandon established telecommunications laser technology in favor of mechanically moving parts, either as conventional external-cavity lasers or as smaller MEMS and vertical-cavity designs. As with temperature tuning, this approach is too slow to accommodate packet switching, and does not have the advantage of established techniques for determining reliability to telecommunications levels.