Analysis of ARROW Waveguide Based Microcantilever for Sensing Application

Analysis of microcantilever beam and anti-resonant reflecting optical waveguide (ARROW) microcantilever waveguides are presented in this work. The silicon nitride material is used to generate microcantilever beams in which varying electric voltage is applied to create the deformation and thus leads to displacement of the beam due to bending of the cantilever tip. Thereby, an integration of micro electro mechanical systems (MEMS) cantilever and ARROW waveguide produced a new ARROW microcantilever waveguide reasonable for obtaining a high quality factor, electric filed intensity and sensitivity. These parameters are analyzed by varying the air gap distance between cantilever waveguide and output waveguide. Especially, maximum finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) sensitivity is reached to 73.78 nm/RIU for the proposed ARROW microcantilever waveguide.

Automated summary

This work presents an analysis of microcantilever beams and ARROW microcantilever waveguides. By applying varying electric voltage, the microcantilever beams made of silicon nitride material can be deformed, leading to displacement. By integrating MEMS cantilever with ARROW waveguide, a new ARROW microcantilever waveguide is created, which demonstrates high sensitivity and quality factor. The parameters are studied by changing the air gap distance between the cantilever waveguide and output waveguide. The proposed ARROW microcantilever waveguide achieves a maximum FDTD sensitivity of 73.78 nm/RIU.