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US 5,160,523 AGranted
Method of producing optical waveguides by an ion exchange technique on a glass substrate
AssigneeNokia Corporation
InventorsSeppo Honkanen, Ari Tervonen
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Abstract
The invention relates to a method of producing waveguides by an ion exchange technique on a glass substrate. In order to be able to alleviate the tolerances allowed for the ion exchange technique, the waveguides are formed in the invention by diffusing ions which increase the refractive index away from a waveguide formed previously on the glass substrate and being wider than the optical waveguides to be produced, by using the ion exchange technique and a positive-type ion exchange mask.
Claims5
A method of producing an optical waveguide including a patterned light channel comprising:
- providing a glass substrate having a first refractive index,
- diffusing first ions into a surface of said substrate for producing a planar zone at said surface having a second refractive index greater than said first refractive index,
- forming an ion diffusion mask on said substrate surface overlying said zone, said mask having a shape corresponding to a desired light channel in said substrate,
- diffusing said first ions from portions of said zone not covered by said mask outwardly from said substrate, and removing said mask.
1 more element
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.