Claims
- 1. An integrated device comprising:
a substrate; a low index difference waveguide disposed on said substrate; a high index difference waveguide disposed on said substrate, said high index waveguide having a high index difference waveguide core; a mode converter disposed on said substrate for optical mode transformation between said low index difference waveguide and said high index difference waveguide; an on-chip device optically coupled to said high index difference waveguide core; and said substrate having a surface, the surface exhibiting at least a first height and a second height, the first height not being equal to said second height, said low index difference waveguide being disposed at said first height, said high index difference waveguide being disposed at said second height.
- 2. The integrated device of claim 1, wherein said first height is lower than said second height.
- 3. The integrated device of claim 1, wherein a trench is etched into the substrate where the substrate surface height on top of which said low index difference waveguide is built is lower than the height of the substrate surface used for said high index waveguide.
- 4. The integrated device of claim 2, wherein a trench is etched into the substrate to form said first height
- 5. The integrated device of claim 1, wherein said substrate surface exhibits a third height, the first height being lower than the third height.
- 6. The integrated device of claim 5, further comprising a trench in the substrate, said trench being at said second height, the second height being lower than the third height.
- 7. The integrated device of claim 1, wherein the second height is the unprocessed height of the substrate.
- 8. The integrated device of claim 1, wherein said mode converter is disposed on the substrate at the same height as said low index difference waveguide.
- 9. The integrated device of claim 1, further comprising a trench formed in said substrate, said trench forming said first height and wherein said low index difference waveguide is a discrete component bonded to the trench.
- 10. The integrated device of claim 1, further comprising a trench in said substrate, said trench forming said second height and wherein said high index difference waveguide is a discrete component bonded to the trench of the substrate.
- 11. The integrated device of claim 7, wherein said on-chip device is disposed at said second height and said high index difference waveguide is a discrete component bonded to the substrate at said second height.
- 12. The integrated device of claim 1, wherein said low index difference waveguide, said mode converter, and said high index difference waveguide components, and said low index difference waveguide and mode converter are bonded to the substrate at said first height, and said high index difference waveguide is bonded to said substrate at said second height.
- 13. The integrated device of claim 1, wherein said on-chip device is integrally formed on the substrate surface.
- 14. The integrated device of claim 1, wherein said on-chip device is a discrete component and bonded to the substrate surface.
- 15. The integrated device of claim 1, further comprising a trench formed in the substrate and said on-chip device is a discrete component bonded to the trench.
- 16. The integrated device of claim 1, wherein optical coupling between said on-chip device and said high index waveguide core occurs through optical mode coupling between the high index waveguide device core and the on-chip device.
- 17. The integrated device of claim 16, wherein said on-chip device is disposed between said substrate and said high index waveguide.
- 18. The integrated device of claim 16, wherein said high index waveguide is tapered for better optical mode coupling near said on-chip device.
- 19. The integrated device of claim 16, wherein said high index waveguide core is disposed at a side of said on-chip device.
- 20. The integrated device of claim 19, wherein said on-chip device is tapered near said high index waveguide for better optical mode coupling.
- 21. The integrated device of claim 1, wherein said high index waveguide core is butt-coupled into said on-chip device.
- 22. the integrated device of claim 21, wherein said on-chip device is a detector.
- 23. The integrated device of claim 1, wherein the coupling between said on-chip device and said high index waveguide core occurs through light reflection from the high index waveguide core to said on-chip device.
- 24. The integrated device of claim 23, wherein said high index waveguide core is etched to produce a slanted surface by which light traveling through said high index waveguide core is reflected to said on-chip device.
- 25. The integrated device of claim 24, wherein said slanted surface is coated with light reflecting material.
- 26. The integrated device of claim 25, wherein said light reflecting material is aluminum.
- 27. The integrated device of claim 24, wherein the slanted surface of said high index difference waveguide faces away from said on-chip device.
- 28. The integrated device of claim 24, wherein the slanted surface of said high index difference waveguide has a light incident angle such that the reflected light escapes the waveguide towards said on-chip detector.
- 29. The integrated device of claim 27, wherein the slanted surface at the end of said high index difference waveguide is coated with light reflection material.
- 30. A planar optical device comprising a substrate, a waveguide built on said substrate, and a plurality of reflective surfaces disposed on said substrate to form a light confining region with said substrate, said plurality of reflective surfaces defining an opening, said waveguide extending through said opening and terminating in said light confining region.
- 31. The planar optical device of claim 30, wherein said waveguide is a high index difference waveguide.
- 32. The planar optical device of claim 30 wherein said waveguide is a low index difference waveguide.
- 33. The planar optical device of claim 30, wherein said waveguide is connected to an on-chip function.
- 34. The planar optical device of claim 30, wherein said region has at least one side and said waveguide is arranged such that the waveguide enters the region through an opening of one side of said region.
- 35. The planar optical device of claim 30, wherein light exiting the waveguide is incident on a reflective surface of said region at an angle different from a surface normal of the reflective surface.
- 36. The planar optical device of claim 30, wherein said region is defined by at least two corners and said one or more comers of said region are angled.
- 37. The planar optical device of claim 30, wherein said reflective surfaces are formed of metals.
- 38. The planar optical device of claim 30, further comprising an on-chip device on said substrate within said light confining region, and wherein said on-chip device forms a non-reflective surface within said light confining region.
- 39. The planar optical device of claim 38, wherein said on-chip device is a light detector.
- 40. The integrated device of claim 38, wherein a part of said on-chip device extends beyond said light confining region to form contacts.
- 41. The integrated device of claim 38, further comprising an electronic curcuit disposed on said substrate and coupled to said on-chip device wherein a transparent contact material connects said on-chip device to an electronic circuit.
- 42. The integrated device of claim 41, wherein said transparent contact material is one of Tantalum (Ta), Tantalum Nitride (TaN), Titanium (Ti), and Titanium Nitride (TiN).
- 43. The integrated device of claim 30, wherein said light confining region reflects and directs light towards said on-chip device.
- 44. The planar optical device of claim 30, wherein light traveling through said waveguide terminates in said region, reflects on at least one of the plurality of reflective surfaces of said light confining region, and is directed to said on-chip device.
- 45. The planar optical device of claim 30, wherein said region is fabricated by etching sidewalls of said region and coating the sidewalls of the said region with reflective material.
- 46. The planar optical device of claim 43, wherein said sidewalls are etched at once from top to bottom of the device and coated with reflective material.
- 47. The planar optical device of claim 43, wherein sequential steps of etching and coating said sidewalls for one film layer or a set of film stacks are used until said region is defined and surrounded by reflective material.
- 48. The planar optical device of claim 30, wherein one or more reflective surfaces of said region is non-vertical relative to said waveguide.
- 49. The planar optical device of claim 30, wherein said region is made of materials transparent to the light coming through said waveguide.
- 50. The planar optical device of claim 38, wherein the light exiting said waveguide to enter said region is reflected from the sidewalls towards said on-chip device.
- 51. The planar optical device of claim 30, wherein the distance between said waveguide and said substrate is similar to a cladding thickness of a low index waveguide.
- 52. The planar optical device of claim 30, wherein said waveguide and said substrate are separated by at least 4 μm.
- 53. A method for bi-directionally coupling of optical signals in integrated planar light wave circuits comprising:
providing a substrate, forming a trench in said substrate to provide a first substrate surface and a second substrate surface on the substrate, the first substrate surface being lower than said second substrate surface; providing a low index difference waveguide on said substrate at said first substrate surface; providing a high index difference waveguide on said substrate on said second substrate surface; providing a mode converter for optical mode transformation between said low index difference waveguide and said high index difference waveguide on said first substrate surface; and providing an on-chip device on said substrate, said on-chip device being optically coupled to said high index difference waveguide.
- 54. The method for bi-directionally coupling of optical signals of claim 53, wherein said high index difference waveguide includes a high index difference waveguide core and said low index difference waveguide includes a low index difference waveguide core, the height of the first substrate surface and said second substrate surface being arranged so that said low index difference waveguide core is substantially coplanar with said high index difference waveguide core.
- 55. The method for bi-directionally coupling of optical signals of claim 53, further comprising the step of providing an optical device optically coupled to said low index difference waveguide.
- 56. The method for bi-directionally coupling of optical signals of claim 53, wherein said on-chip device is a detector.
- 57. The method for bi-directionally coupling of optical signals of claim 53, wherein said on-chip device is disposed on said second surface of the substrate.
- 58. The method for bi-directionally coupling of optical signals of claim 57, wherein said on-chip device is a detector.
- 59. The method for bi-directionally coupling of optical signals of claim 57, wherein said on-chip device is a discrete component bonded to said substrate.
PRIORITY INFORMATION
[0001] This application claims priority from United States provisional application Ser. No. 60/398,950 filed on Jul. 26, 2002, entitled INTEGRATED MODE CONVERTER, WAVEGUIDE, AND ON-CHIP FUNCTION.
Provisional Applications (1)
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Number |
Date |
Country |
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60398950 |
Jul 2002 |
US |