US 8,506,829 B2Granted

Semiconductor hollow-core waveguide using photonic crystal gratings

AssigneeThe United States of America as represented by the Secretary of the Army

InventorWeimin Zhou

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Abstract

A semiconductor hollow-core waveguide using high-contrast gratings or photonic crystal claddings and a method of manufacturing the same includes providing a layered semiconductor structure; creating an etching mask pattern over the layered semiconductor structure; performing a combined cycled directional etching process on the layered semiconductor structure in one sequence and in one lithography level to create a 3-dimensional waveguide structure; and creating a hollow air core in the layered semiconductor structure by removing to define a shape of the waveguide. The etching process comprises vertically etching a series of deep trenches on the layered semiconductor structure with precise control and varying the width of the trench. Furthermore, the hollow air core is created by removing a portion of the sacrificial material located in the center of the waveguide and under the waveguide.

Claims5

Dependent claims

A method of manufacturing a semiconductor hollow-core waveguide using any of high-contrast gratings and photonic crystal cladding, said method comprising:

providing a layered semiconductor structure comprising:
a substrate;
a sacrificial layer over said substrate;
and
a plurality of semiconductor-based layers over said sacrificial layer;
creating an etching mask pattern over said plurality of semiconductor-based layers;
performing a combined cycled directional etching process on said layered semiconductor structure to create a series of deep trenches that define gratings for a cladding of said waveguide;
removing a portion of said semiconductor based-layers located in the center of said waveguide to create a hollow air core in said layered semiconductor structure to define a shape of said waveguide;
and
removing said sacrificial layer under said waveguide,
wherein a top layer of said layered semiconductor structure comprises a thickness equal to a total height of said waveguide, and
wherein said sacrificial layer comprises a thickness greater than half of a wavelength of an operating wave of said waveguide.

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Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.