Method for fabricating buried ion-exchanged waveguides using field-assisted annealing
AssigneeCity University of Hong Kong
InventorsEdwin Yue Bun Pun, Ke Liu
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Abstract
A method for forming buried ion-exchanged waveguides involves a two-step process. In a first step a waveguide is formed at the surface of a substrate using an ion-exchange technique. After formation of the waveguide, a field-assisted annealing is carried out to move the waveguide away from the surface of the substrate so that it is buried in the substrate. Exemplary field-assisted annealing is carried out at a temperature close to the ion-exchange temperature ±10° C. to optimize results.
Claims8
A method for forming an optical waveguide in a substrate having first and second surfaces, the method comprising the steps of:
- (a) an ion-exchange to form a waveguide in said first surface of said substrate at a predetermined ion-exchange temperature, wherein the substrate is exposed to an external source of ions, and wherein a surface waveguide is formed;
- (b) forming an electrode on said first and second surfaces of said substrate;
- and
- (c) carrying out a field-assisted annealing step on said substrate to move said waveguide from said first surface deeper into said substrate to form a buried waveguide, wherein the peak of the refractive index of said buried waveguide is below said first surface,
- said method comprising only one exposure of the substrate to an external source of ions.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.