JPH02244008A - Optical circuit and production of the optical circuit - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To obtain the optical circuit which has excellent quality and performance and can be easily formed by integrally forming molding parts of a projecting or recessed shape on a waveguide surface. CONSTITUTION:A mold material 10 having the mold parts 9 for molding consisting of the projecting or recessed shape on the surface is obtd. and a waveguide material 3a is deposited on the surface of the mold material 10 where the mold parts 9 are provided; further, a waveguide substrate 1 is fixed via an adhesive agent 2 on the surface of the waveguide material 3a. The surface of the waveguide material 3a is parted from the mold material 10 to form the optical circuit integrated with the molding parts 4 on the surface of the material 3a. Further, the waveguide 3 is fixed by the adhesive agent onto the waveguide substrate 1 so that the molding parts 4 having the projecting or recessed shape are formed integrally on the surface of the waveguide 3. The optical circuit element having the excellent quality and performance is easily obtd. in this way.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION (Field of Industrial Application) The present invention relates to an optical circuit that integrally includes optical circuit elements such as a grating coupler and a waveguide lens on a waveguide surface, and a method for manufacturing the same.

(Prior Art) Recently, in various optical devices, etc., as shown in FIG.
An optical circuit 102 in which an optical circuit element such as a grating coupler 101 is provided on a waveguide 100 surface is widely used. For example, in this optical circuit +02, light R incident from one grating coupler 101 passes through the waveguide 100 to the other grating coupler 101.
The configuration is such that the beam is emitted from the Such an optical circuit 1
In 02, after a waveguide 100 is fabricated on a substrate 103, an optical circuit element is provided by a manufacturing process such as dry etching or proton exchange.

(Problem to be Solved by the Invention) However, such an optical circuit 102 is
After the waveguide 100 is integrally fabricated on the top, the optical circuit element is provided by a complicated manufacturing process such as dry etching and proton exchange, which is very time-consuming and difficult to mass produce, and also reduces the manufacturing cost. There was a problem that the amount of

In addition, the complexity of the manufacturing process has led to low product reproducibility, which has led to a decline in product performance.

Furthermore, since the optical circuit element is provided after the waveguide 100 is manufactured, there are also problems in that the surface of the waveguide 100 may be damaged during manufacture and that alignment of the optical circuit element to the waveguide 100 is difficult.

The present invention was made in view of the above-mentioned problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide an optical circuit with excellent quality and performance that can be easily manufactured.

(Means for Solving the Problems) In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a method for manufacturing an optical circuit by obtaining a molding material having a molding part having a convex or concave molding part on the surface. , a waveguide material is deposited on a surface of the mold material that includes a molding part, a waveguide substrate is fixed to the waveguide material surface via an adhesive, and the waveguide material surface is released from the mold material. , an optical circuit is obtained in which the molded portion is integrally formed on the surface of the waveguide material.

Furthermore, the optical circuit has a structure in which a waveguide is fixed onto a waveguide substrate with an adhesive, and a convex or concave molded part is integrally formed on the surface of the waveguide.

(Function) According to the configuration of the present invention, an optical circuit element can be obtained in which a convex or concave molded portion is integrally formed on the waveguide surface.

(Example) Hereinafter, an example of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is an external perspective view of an optical circuit obtained by the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a sectional view thereof.

In these figures, numeral 1 is a waveguide substrate, and the waveguide substrate! A waveguide 3 is provided thereon via an optical adhesive 2, and a grating coupler 4, which is an optical circuit element, serving as a pair of molded parts is integrally provided on the surface of the waveguide 3.

Materials etc. will be explained in the next explanation of the manufacturing method.

Each figure in FIG. 3 is a diagram sequentially explaining the manufacturing process of the product shown in the above embodiment.

First, a master 5 as shown in FIG. 3(A) is prepared.

This master disk 5 has protrusions 7 having the same shape as the grating of the grating coupler 4 on a substrate 6 made of glass or the like. The protrusions 7 are formed by removing the resist layer 8 into a desired shape using, for example, electron beam lithography.

Next, using the side of the master 5 on which the convex stripes 7 are provided, a concave strip 9 as a mold part for molding is provided on one side by electroforming, as shown in FIG. 3(B). A metal stamper IO as a mold material is manufactured.

Next, as shown in FIG. 3(C), a waveguide material 3a is deposited and provided on the side of the stand bar 10 on which the grooved strip 9 is provided, for example, by a vacuum evaporation method. By depositing the waveguide material 3a in this way, the waveguide material 3a
A part of the groove enters into the groove 9. As the waveguide material 3a, AlzOs (refractive index 1.63), LaF3 (refractive index 1.55), 5i03 (refractive index 1.53 to 1.55) is used.
etc. are used.

Then, as shown in FIG. 3(D), the waveguide material 3
Apply optical adhesive 2 such as ultraviolet curing adhesive to 8 sides,
A waveguide substrate 1 is adhered to the coated surface and fixed by irradiating ultraviolet rays from the waveguide substrate 1 side.

The above-mentioned optical adhesive 2 has a refractive index of about 1.52, and the refractive index of the above-mentioned waveguide material 3a is preferably slightly larger than the refractive index of the optical adhesive 2. As the material 3a, Altos, La F3.5ins, which has a refractive index greater than 1.52, is used.

Further, as the waveguide substrate l, a transparent material such as glass is used, and this is made transparent to allow ultraviolet rays to pass through during curing.

After the optical adhesive 2 has solidified, the waveguide material 3a side is released from the stamper 10, and the optical waveguide material 3a side is released from the stamper 1O, and the grating coupler 4 is integrally provided on the waveguide 3 side as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2. Get the circuit.

In the above, if a waveguide material having a small refractive index or a material having an excessively high refractive index is used, a buffer layer may be provided between the waveguide material and the optical adhesive. For example, as a waveguide material, the refractive index is 2.3.
5, a buffer layer with a refractive index of about 2.30 is provided. For example, the waveguide material and the buffer layer may be combined as follows.

Waveguide material buffer layer Corning 7059 glass Sing (trade name: Corning Inc.) tox nS i0 ies Figures 4, 5, and 6 show other examples of optical circuits obtained by the above manufacturing method. be.

In the device shown in FIG. 4, the molded portion is provided as an optical circuit element including a Fresnel type waveguide lens 16 and a spherical type waveguide lens 17. In the one shown in FIG. 5, the molded part is provided as a waveguide ridge part 18, and the one shown in this embodiment is what is called a ridge type waveguide. In the device shown in FIG. 6, the waveguide ridge portion 18 of the device shown in FIG. 5 has a bent shape, and the bend portion 19 is provided with a mirror portion 20 for changing the waveguide direction.

In the embodiments shown in FIGS. 5 and 6 above, the molded portion is the waveguide ridge portion 18.
Although this corresponds to a wiring element, the optical circuit of the present invention includes not only an optical circuit element but also one having a wiring element.

In the above embodiments, the molded part changes the effective refractive index of the opposing waveguide as an optical circuit element, but as shown in FIG. 7, the molded part changes the refractive index. It may also be configured as an optical circuit element that decreases discontinuously. That is, in the embodiment shown in FIG. 7, the molded part is configured as a spherical recess 22, and since air exists in the recess 22, the refractive index of the air is lower than the refractive index of the waveguide in that part. Since it is small, the light is guided along the three surfaces of the waveguide, and in this embodiment, the light is condensed based on the Fermat principle.

In addition, all of the above optical circuit elements were passive optical circuit elements, but after the above manufacturing process, a buffer layer was further formed on the waveguide surface by sputtering etc., and AU and It is also possible to provide active optical circuit elements such as phase modulators and optical intensity modulators by providing electrodes such as A1, and by providing various optical circuit elements in this way, the optical circuit can be configured as an optical integrated circuit. You can also do it.

(Effects of the Invention) Therefore, according to the present invention, it is possible to obtain an optical circuit in which a molded part that becomes an optical circuit element, etc. is integrally provided on a waveguide, and thereby, an optical circuit element, etc. can be separately provided on the waveguide surface. Various problems in the conventional system have been solved, and as a result,
Optical circuit elements with excellent quality and performance can now be easily obtained.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

1 to 7 relate to embodiments of the present invention, in which FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an embodiment of an optical circuit, FIG. 2 is a sectional view of the same, and FIG. 3 (A
), (B), (C), and (D) are cross-sectional views sequentially showing the manufacturing process, and Figures 4, 5, 6, and 7 are perspective views showing other different embodiments of the optical circuit. It is a diagram. FIG. 8 is a perspective view showing a conventional example of an optical circuit. DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1... Waveguide substrate, 2... Optical adhesive, 3... Waveguide, 3a... Waveguide material, 4... Grating coupler (molding part), 9...
Grooves (molding mold part), IO... stamper (mold material). Figure (A> Figure (D) Figure Figure Figure

Claims (6)

[Claims] (1) Obtain a mold material having a molding mold part of a convex or concave molding part on the surface, deposit a waveguide material on the surface of the mold material provided with the molding part, and further adhere to the waveguide material surface. A method for manufacturing an optical circuit, which comprises: fixing a waveguide substrate via an agent, releasing the waveguide material surface from the mold material, and obtaining an optical circuit in which the molded part is integrally formed on the waveguide material surface. (2) The method for manufacturing an optical circuit according to claim (1), wherein the molding part is a molding part having a function of changing an effective refractive index. (3) The method for manufacturing an optical circuit according to claim (1), wherein the molded part is a concave molded part that reduces the refractive index discontinuously. (4) The waveguide is fixed on the waveguide substrate with adhesive,
An optical circuit in which a convex or concave molded portion is integrally formed on the surface of the waveguide. (5) The optical circuit according to claim 4, wherein the molding section is a molding section having a function of changing an effective refractive index. (6) The optical circuit according to claim 4, wherein the molded portion is a concave molded portion that reduces the refractive index discontinuously.