Photonic chip mounting in a recess for waveguide alignment and connection
AssigneePhosistor Technologies, Inc.
InventorsYan Zhou, Seng-Tiong Ho
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A coupling system for photonic integrated circuits and integrated optical waveguides is provided. A recess is formed in a substrate on which one or more integrated optical waveguides are disposed, the recess being located at the desired mounting location of the photonic integrated circuit. At least one end wall of the recess is inclined with respect to a normal to the substrate surface. At least one end face of a photonic integrated circuit is inclined to match the inclined end wall of the recess. The length, width, and depth of the recess are controlled so that inserting the photonic integrated circuit into the recess passively provides both lateral and vertical alignment of the photonic integrated circuit with the integrated optical waveguide(s).
Claims12
A device for mounting and aligning a photonic integrated circuit with one or more integrated optical waveguides, comprising:
- a substrate having one or more integrated optical waveguides disposed thereon;
- a photonic integrated circuit having at least one end face with an inclination angle with respect to a vertical direction;
- and
- a recess formed in the substrate, the recess having a width, a depth, a substantially flat bottom surface, and at least one end wall with an inclination angle with respect to a vertical direction substantially equal to the inclination angle of the at least one end face,
- wherein the width of the recess is selected so that mounting of the photonic integrated circuit in the recess laterally aligns the photonic integrated circuit with the one or more integrated optical waveguides, and
- wherein the depth of the recess is selected so that mounting of the photonic integrated circuit in the recess vertically aligns the photonic integrated circuit with the one or more integrated waveguides.
A method for mounting a photonic integrated circuit in alignment with one or more integrated optical waveguides disposed on a substrate, the method comprising:
- shaping at least one end face of the photonic integrated circuit to have an inclination angle with respect to a vertical direction;
- forming a recess in the substrate, the recess having a depth, a width, a substantially flat bottom surface, and at least one end wall having an inclination angle with respect to the vertical direction approximately equal to the inclination angle of the at least one end face of the photonic circuit;
- controlling the depth of the recess during the step of forming a recess so that mounting of the photonic integrated circuit in the recess vertically aligns the photonic integrated circuit with the one or more integrated optical waveguides;
- controlling the width of the recess during the step of forming a recess so that mounting of the photonic integrated circuit in the recess laterally aligns the photonic integrated circuit with the one or more integrated optical waveguides;
- and
- mounting the photonic integrated circuit in the recess so that each of the plurality of end faces of the photonic chip aligns with a corresponding one of the plurality of end walls of the recess, thereby aligning the photonic integrated circuit with the one or more integrated optical waveguides.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.