Method of manufacturing a waveguide

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10488594-B2
Application number	US-201816101127-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 10, 2018
Priority date	Oct 13, 2016
Publication date	Nov 26, 2019
Grant date	Nov 26, 2019

Abstract

A method of manufacturing an optical device is disclosed. The method includes forming a waveguide in a glass plate. The method further includes scanning the glass plate with a laser beam directed at an acute angle with respect to a first surface to form a mirror trench in the glass plate. Scanning the glass plate with the first laser beam includes pulses of the laser beam that have a duration between 2 and 500 femtoseconds. The method also includes filling the mirror trench with a reflective material and depositing a cladding layer over the waveguide and mirror trench.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method of manufacturing an optical device, the method comprising:
forming a waveguide in a glass plate;
scanning the glass plate with a first laser beam directed at an acute angle with respect to a first surface to form a mirror trench in the glass plate, wherein scanning the glass plate with the first laser beam comprises pulses of the first laser beam having a duration between 2 femtoseconds and 500 femtoseconds;
filling the mirror trench with a reflective material; and
depositing a cladding layer over the waveguide and mirror trench.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the method further comprises:
treating the glass plate with the mirror trench with hydrofluoric acid to remove cracks in sidewalls of the mirror trench, wherein scanning the glass plate comprises forming the cracks in the sidewalls of the mirror trench.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the mirror trench is deeper than the waveguide.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein forming the waveguide comprises:
scanning the glass plate with a second laser beam directed orthogonally to the first surface of the glass plate to form a trench according to a pattern of the waveguide; and
filling the trench with a fill material having an index different from that of glass.

5. The method of claim 4 , wherein the filled trench has a depth between 5 μm and 15 μm and a width between 5 μm and 12 μm.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the reflective material is a metal.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the mirror trench has a semi-circular, rectangular, or rounded-angle rectangular cross-section.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the pulses are emitted at a frequency between 10 and 500 kHz.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the cladding layer comprises silicon oxide.

10. An apparatus comprising:
a glass plate;
a cladding layer disposed on a first surface of the glass plate;
a waveguide extending from the cladding layer into the glass plate; and
an inclined mirror extending from the cladding layer into the glass plate and terminating in the glass plate, the inclined mirror forming an acute angle with the first surface, wherein the inclined mirror is disposed entirely within the glass plate.

11. The apparatus of claim 10 , wherein the inclined mirror extends deeper into the glass plate than the waveguide.

12. The apparatus of claim 10 , wherein the waveguide is a single-mode waveguide comprising a depth between 5 μm and 10 μm and a width between 5 μm and 10 μm.

13. The apparatus of claim 10 , wherein the inclined mirror comprises a metal.

14. The apparatus of claim 10 , wherein the inclined mirror has a semi-circular, rectangular, or rounded-angle rectangular cross-section.

15. The apparatus of claim 10 , wherein the cladding layer comprises silicon oxide.

16. A method of manufacturing an optical device, the method comprising:
scanning a first surface of a glass plate with a laser beam directed orthogonally to the first surface to form a trench according to a pattern of a waveguide, wherein the laser beam is scanned along a curved path of the pattern in a plane of the first surface, and wherein scanning the first surface comprises forming cracks in sidewalls of the trench;
treating the glass plate with the trench with hydrofluoric acid to remove the cracks in the sidewalls of the trench;
filling the trench with a material having an index different from that of glass; and
after filling the trench, depositing a cladding layer.

17. The method of claim 16 , wherein
scanning the first surface comprises scanning with pulses of the laser beam having a duration between 2 femtoseconds and 500 femtoseconds, and
scanning the first surface according to the pattern of the waveguide forms exactly one trench in the glass plate.

18. The method of claim 16 , wherein the trench has a depth between 5 μm and 10 μm and a width between 5 μm and 10 μm.

19. The method of claim 16 , wherein waveguide is a single-mode waveguide.

20. The method of claim 16 , further comprising:
before depositing the cladding layer, forming an inclined mirror disposed entirely in the glass plate, the inclined mirror forming an acute angle with the first surface and terminating in the glass plate.

Assignees

• St Microelectronics Sa

Inventors

• Durand Cédric
• Gianesello Frédéric
• Ayi-Yovo Folly Eli

Classifications

• C03C17/09

  by deposition from the vapour phase · CPC title

• G02B6/138

  by using polymerisation · CPC title

• G02B6/136

  by etching · CPC title

• G02B2006/12104

  Mirror; Reflectors or the like · CPC title

• G02B6/30 Primary

  for use between fibre and thin-film device · CPC title