Optical component with angled-facet waveguide
AssigneeInternational Business Machines Corporation
InventorsRussell A. Budd, Daniel M. Kuchta, Benjamin Giles Lee, Laurent Schares, Clint Lee Schow
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Abstract
An optical component includes a component body, and at least one angled-facet waveguide formed in the component body, wherein the angled-facet waveguide is substantially mirror-symmetrical in shape relative to a line at or near the center of the angled-facet waveguide.
Claims20
An optical component, comprising:
- a component body;
- and
- at least one angled-facet waveguide formed in the component body, wherein the angled-facet waveguide is substantially mirror-symmetrical in shape relative to a line at or near the center of the angled-facet waveguide.
A system, comprising,
- a first optical component comprising at least one waveguide and at least one self-alignment feature;
- and
- a second optical component comprising at least another waveguide and at least another self-alignment feature;
- wherein the self-alignment feature of the first optical component and the self-alignment feature of the second optical component engage to assist in optically-coupling the waveguide of the first optical component and the waveguide of the second optical component when the first optical component has a manufacturing tolerance in a given geometric dimension and is mounted in the second optical component.
A method for aligning two substrates comprising at least one patterned layer implementing photonic waveguides wherein the length from one edge of one substrate to the opposing edge of the substrate has associated with it a manufacturing tolerance, the method comprising:
- patterning a waveguide path such that a waveguide forms a non-orthogonal intersection with one edge of the substrate on which the waveguide resides;
- further patterning the waveguide path such that the waveguide forms substantially the same non-orthogonal angle with the opposite edge of the substrate, wherein the two edges are substantially parallel and wherein the waveguide path is substantially mirror-symmetrical in shape relative to a line at or near the center of the waveguide path;
- and
- providing a lateral offset during substrate-to-substrate bonding in order to compensate for misalignment in optical coupling which occurs as a result of the manufacturing tolerance in a given geometric dimension of the substrate.
The method of 16, wherein the two substrates are a chip and a first-level package, respectively, and wherein the first-level package contains a recessed cavity which receives the chip.
The method of 17, wherein the recessed cavity comprise staircase features and the patterned waveguide layer comprises pedestal features, wherein the rise and run of the staircase features are matched to the pedestal features such that misalignment in optical coupling due to a given geometric dimensional tolerance of at least one of the two substrates is compensated when a portion of the pedestal features are pushed substantially flush against a portion of the staircase features.
The method of 17, wherein the recessed cavity comprise ramp features and the patterned waveguide layer comprises a line feature, wherein the rise of the ramp features is matched to the line feature such that misalignment in optical coupling due to a given geometric dimensional tolerance of at least one of the two substrates is compensated when a portion of the line feature is pushed substantially flush against a portion of the ramp features.
The method of 16, wherein the manufacturing tolerance arises from a cleaving process, a dicing and polishing process, or an etching process, and wherein the optical coupling between waveguides of one of the two substrates and waveguides of the other of the two substrates is achieved using butt-coupling or lensed-coupling.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.