Comb-drive GaN micro-mirror on a GaN-on-silicon platform

We report here a double-sided process for the fabrication of a comb-drive GaN micro-mirror on a GaN-on-silicon platform. A silicon substrate is first patterned from the backside and removed by deep reactive ion etching, resulting in totally suspended GaN slabs. GaN microstructures including the torsion bars, movable combs and mirror plate are then defined on a freestanding GaN slab by the backside alignment technique and generated by fast atom beam etching with Cl₂ gas. Although the fabricated comb-drive GaN micro-mirrors are deflected by the residual stress in GaN thin films, they can operate on a high resistivity silicon substrate without introducing any additional isolation layer. The optical rotation angles are experimentally characterized in the rotation experiments. This work opens the possibility of producing GaN optical micro-electro-mechanical-system (MEMS) devices on a GaN-on-silicon platform.