Fabrication of a total internal reflection optical switch with vertical fluid fill-holes

Abstract

A method of fabricating a switching element or a matrix of switching elements includes providing a waveguide substrate having at least two waveguides that intersect at a trench such that optical coupling between the waveguides is dependent upon the presence or absence of an index-matching fluid at the intersection of the waveguides with the trench. Fluid is supplied to the trench via a fluid fill-hole that extends through a heater substrate in a direction that is generally perpendicular to a substrate surface on which at least one heater is fabricated. In the preferred embodiment, the fluid fill-hole is formed in a step of inductively coupled plasma (ICP) reactive ion etching (RIE). The waveguide substrate having at least two waveguides and the heater substrate having the heaters and the fill-hole are bonded together after the substrates are aligned such that the trench is in fluid communication with at least one fluid fill-hole and is in thermal communication with at least one heater. Optical fibers are then coupled to the waveguides. Preferably, a structurally weakened edge portion is formed during the ICP RIE step so that the edge portion can be removed after the two substrates are bonded, allowing uninhibited access of the optical fibers to the waveguides.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.