Table 1 Silicon photonic MEMS device performance in comparison with state-of-the art free carrier dispersion (FCD), thermo-optic (TO), plasmonic-organic hybrid (POH), lithium niobate (LiNbO₃) and liquid crystal (LC) devices, where silicon photonic MEMS uniquely provide a compact footprint, low insertion loss, low power consumption and broad optical bandwidth

MEMS tunable coupler

78 × 78

0.5

27

–^a

30

–^a

MEMS switch

65 × 62

–^a

23

–^a

1500–1600

<1

MEMS ring resonator

75 × 45

–^a

27

–^a

0.26

–^a

MEMS phase shifter

100 × 45

0.33

20

<1^b

50^f

2^c

TO phase shifter³⁶

109 × 21

1.23

0.8

2560

1520–1600

<34.8

FCD MZI phase shifter⁶⁸

2100 × 2000

6.9

0.5

203·10³

Broadband

<0.001

POH phase shifter³⁹

29 × 10

12

3

2.4·10^6d

Broadband

<0.001

LiNbO₃ phase shifter⁶⁹

20,000 × 500

0.5

0.37

26·10^3e

Broadband

<0.001

LC phase shifter⁷⁰

80 × 40

0.83

10

–

Broadband

1000