The switch samples have already generated significant interest and are in evaluation at major customer sites. They are the first products out of MEMSCAP's fully automated, high-volume MEMS fabrication facility in Bernin, France.
"MEMSCAP's foundry in Bernin is now producing some of the highest performance optical components in the industry,"said Jean-Michel Karam, president and CEO, MEMSCAP. "As we ramp up to full volume production we expect to be producing some of the most cost-effective products on the market today."
The 1x2 and 2x2 port switches, which unlike most MEMS-based switches offer embedded electronics, are aimed at a variety of fiber optic applications, including network and equipment protection, bypassing in FDDI and SONET, reconfigurable OADMs, network reconfiguration and monitoring, and redundancy for optical cross-connects. The components have also drawn attention from equipment providers in non-telecommunications technologies such as the instrumentation, transceiver and free-space optics markets.
The switches offer network equipment providers a robust, durable design engineered to meet and exceed Telcordia standards; and a scalable architecture enabling development of larger switch arrays. Depending on the application, insertion loss ranges from 0.5dB to 1.0dB, and a switching speed of 1 millisecond. The samples show operating cycles of greater than 108. The two packages, among the smallest on the market, include embedded electronics and allow a snap-on connection to a circuit board. The switches offer protocol and wavelength independence. Additionally, MEMSCAP is exploring providing subsystem manufacturers with the MEMS switch engine alone.
MEMSCAP's MEMS-based VOA is a robust, highly linear device that offers network equipment developers a reliable and low-cost solution for applications requiring gain equalization of optical input or output. With a large dynamic range and low power consumption, the VOA is protocol and wavelength independent, making it suitable for dynamic channel balancing for DWDM systems, power management in multi-stage optical amplifiers and as a building block for multi-function integration. It is available as die or as a fully packaged device, with or without electronics.
MEMSCAP's new fab is deploying high-volume batch manufacturing processes with full automation to enable repeatability for high yields. As a result it expects to pass on significant cost savings to its optical customers. The foundry is equipped to handle both 6-inch and 8-inch wafers. MEMSCAP recently acquired JDSU's Cronos MEMS unit, which will allow it to further expand its optical manufacturing capacity.
About MEMSCAP
MEMSCAP is the leading provider of innovative micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS)-based solutions. MEMSCAP solutions include components, component designs (IP), CAD design tools, manufacturing and related services. MEMSCAP customers include Fortune 500 businesses, major research institutes and universities. The company's shares are traded on Euronext under the ticker symbol MEMS (Euroclear France code: 7939), where MEMSCAP belongs to the Next Economy segment, to the SBF250 and ITCAC50 indexes. More information on the company's products and services can be obtained at www.memscap.com.