JPH1090504A - Light quantity filter and its production - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To obtain a light quantity filter which is good in the accuracy of a transmitted light quantity and phase difference and is decreased in variations by forming a thin-film layer in the recessed part side part of a difference in level formed on a substrate adjacent to an optical element, thereby varying the transmitted light quantity between a projecting part and the recessed part. SOLUTION: This filter has the difference in level on the substrate 1 adhered adjacently to the optical element. The thin-film layer 4 consisting of a metallic thin film is formed on the recessed part 2 of the difference in level and an antireflection film 5 is formed in order to make the transmitted light 100% in the projecting part 3 of the difference in level. The transmitted light 7 past the projecting part 3 of the difference in level of the cast incident light 6 is 100% in transmission efficiency and the transmitted light 8 past the recessed part 2 of the difference in level is attenuated in the transmitted light quantity by the absorption of the thin-film layer 4 and, therefore, the transmitted light quantity of the thin-film layer 4 is varied. The transmitted light 7, 8 vary in the phases by a quantity 9 of the difference in level. Then, the elimination of the phase difference between the transmitted light 7 and 8 by the transmission through the thin-film layer 4 is made possible by adjusting the quantity 9 of the difference in level. The arbitrary setting of the phase difference is possible as well and the correction of the astigmatism difference of lasers is also made possible.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a light quantity filter used for an optical pickup and a method for manufacturing the same.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, optical elements (optical pickups) have been widely used in music / video related apparatuses such as compact disks (CD) and laser disks (LD). There is a need for adjusting the light amount of the laser light condensed in the laser.

A conventional light intensity filter is disclosed in
What is described in 67737 gazette is known. Hereinafter, a conventional light amount filter will be described with reference to FIG.

In FIG. 9, a phase diffraction grating 82 and a region 83 where no diffraction grating is provided are formed in a light amount filter 81. Of the incident light incident on the light amount filter 81, the light transmitted through the phase diffraction grating 82 is diffracted and a part of the light amount is distributed to ± first-order diffracted light, so that the amount of transmitted light transmitted in the same direction as the incident light decreases. doing. On the other hand, since the transmitted light in the region 83 where no diffraction grating is provided does not decrease,
The amount of light passing through 1 can be made different between the central portion and the outer peripheral portion.

[0005] A phase correction film can be formed in the region 83 where no diffraction grating is provided to correct the phases of the transmitted light of the phase diffraction grating 82 and the transmitted light of the region 83 where no diffraction grating is provided.

Further, in the manufacture of the conventional light quantity filter, as shown in FIG. 10, a mask 92 for forming a phase correction film 93 is brought into close contact with a glass substrate 91 (FIG. 10A) to form the phase correction film 93. (FIG. 10 (b)). Further, a second mask 94 for forming a lattice is brought into close contact with the substrate 91 (FIG. 10).
(C)), forming a member 95 for forming a lattice (FIG. 10)
(D)).

[0007]

However, in the above-mentioned conventional light amount filter, the amount of transmitted light at the outer peripheral portion is changed by the diffraction grating. However, the amount of transmitted light at the outer peripheral portion depends on the accuracy of the diffraction grating. That is, there is a problem that the amount of transmitted light depends on the depth, width, and the like of the unevenness of the diffraction grating.

Further, the conventional manufacturing method has a problem in reproducibility, and it is difficult to manufacture a good light quantity filter.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to solve the above-mentioned conventional problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a light quantity filter which has high accuracy in transmitted light quantity and phase difference, and has little variation.

[0010]

In order to achieve this object, a light quantity filter according to the present invention comprises a light quantity filter formed directly on an optical element or on a substrate adjacent to the optical element. It has a step formed on a base material, and at least one thin film layer is formed on a concave portion side of the step, so that the amount of transmitted light of the convex portion and the concave portion is different.

Further, according to the method of manufacturing a light quantity filter of the present invention, after forming a photoresist pattern on a substrate or a dielectric film formed on the substrate, the substrate is etched to peel off the photoresist layer. Forming a thin film layer without forming the thin film layer and removing the photoresist and the thin film layer formed on the photoresist at the same time.

Thus, the amount of light transmitted through the light amount filter and the variation can be reduced.

[0013]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The invention according to claim 1 of the present invention has a step formed on a substrate adjacent to an optical element, and at least one thin film layer is formed on a concave side portion of the step. The amount of transmitted light is different between the convex portion and the concave portion, and the amount of transmitted light is changed by at least one thin film layer formed on the concave side portion of the step to form a thin film layer. This has the effect of easily varying the amount of transmitted light between the thin film layer and the portion not to be transmitted. Further, there is an effect that a phase difference of transmitted light between the convex portion and the concave portion can be corrected by the step.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided an optical element having a step directly formed on an optical element, wherein at least one thin film layer is formed on a concave side portion of the step, wherein the convex part and the concave part are formed. The amount of transmitted light is changed by at least one thin film layer formed on the concave side portion of the step, and the amount of transmitted light between the thin film layer and the portion where the thin film layer is not formed is characterized. Has the effect of easily differing by the thin film layer. Then, there is an effect that the transmitted light phase difference between the convex portion and the concave portion can be corrected by the step.

Further, since the light amount filter is formed directly on the optical element, there is an effect that the aberration does not deteriorate.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, the thin film layer formed on the concave side portion of the step of the light quantity filter according to the first or second aspect is made of a metal thin film.
It has an effect of easily varying the amount of transmitted light between the convex portion and the concave portion by utilizing the absorption of the metal film.

[0017] The invention according to claim 4 is the invention according to claims 1, 2,
The optical element of the light amount filter described in No. 3 is a prism, and there is no need to bond the light amount filter to the optical element.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method of manufacturing a light quantity filter, comprising: forming a photoresist pattern on a substrate or a dielectric film formed on the substrate; Forming a thin film layer without removing the photoresist layer, and then simultaneously removing the photoresist and the thin film layer formed on the photoresist. It has an effect that a thin film layer can be formed well.

According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, in the manufacturing method of the fifth aspect, the thin film layer formed after the etching of the substrate is made of a metal thin film. In addition to this, it has the effect of facilitating the formation of a thin film layer.

According to a seventh aspect of the present invention, there is provided the manufacturing method according to the fifth or sixth aspect, wherein the substrate is a prism, and since the light amount filter is not bonded, the aberration is deteriorated. Therefore, it has an effect that a light quantity filter can be manufactured with high positional accuracy.

An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. (Embodiment 1) FIG. 8 is a view showing the structure of the entire optical element, and 10 is a light amount filter.

The laser light emitted from the laser diode 81 passes through a collimating lens 82 and becomes a collimated light. The reflected light from the optical disks 85 and 86 passes through the bifocal lens 84, enters the prism, and is focused on the optical disks 85 and 86.
The light is reflected at 3 and further reflected by the inclined surface 87 of the prism. The light is focused on the light detecting element 89 by the lens 88.

Since the optical disks 85 and 86 have different disk thicknesses, the focal points are focused on the respective optical disks 85 and 86 by the bifocal lens 84.
A part of the light that has passed through the central portion 10a of the light filter 10 is collected on the disk 85,
Is condensed on the optical disk 86.

In order to make the light amount of the condensed laser light on the optical disks 85 and 86 appropriate, a light amount filter 1
A transmittance of 0 is set.

Next, the light intensity filter in the first embodiment of FIG. 1 according to the present invention, Figure 2 shows a cross-sectional view of a light intensity filter at A-A ₁ line shown in FIG. The light amount filter 10 according to the first embodiment of the present invention has a step on the substrate 1 adjacent and bonded to the optical element 11, and forms the thin film layer 4 made of a metal thin film on the step recess 2. It has a configuration in which an anti-reflection film 5 is formed in order to make the transmitted light of the projection 3 100%.

Of the incident light 6 applied to the light amount filter, the transmitted light 7 that has passed through the step convex portion 3 has a transmission efficiency of 100%.
Since the amount of transmitted light 8 that has passed through the stepped concave portion 2 is attenuated by the absorption of the thin film layer 4, the amount of transmitted light of the light amount filter can be made different.

The phases of the transmitted lights 7 and 8 are different depending on the step amount 9. Thus, by adjusting the amount of step, the phase difference between the transmitted lights 6 and 7 due to transmission through the thin film layer 4 can also be eliminated. Also, the phase difference can be set arbitrarily, whereby the laser having the astigmatic difference can be corrected for the astigmatic difference of the laser.

In the first embodiment, the substrate is an optical glass material, the steps are formed by an etching method, and the material of the thin film layer 4 is chromium (Cr).

Therefore, according to the first embodiment, the transmitted light amount of the transmitted light 8 depends on the absorption amount of the thin film layer 4, that is, the film thickness of the thin film layer 4. Since the film is formed by the thin film forming method, the film thickness is accurate, and
It has the characteristic that there is little variation. Although the phase difference between the transmitted lights 7 and 8 is determined by the step amount, according to the first embodiment, since the step is formed by the etching method, the step amount is accurate and has little variation. It has the feature of.

Further, since the light amount filter of the first embodiment is formed on an optical glass material, the light amount filter has a feature that the change in the amount of transmitted light and the change in the phase difference are small with respect to the change in the external temperature.

In the first embodiment, the thin film layer 4 for attenuating the transmitted light amount of the transmitted light 8 is formed of a metal film. The same effect can be obtained even if the light source is configured to obtain a light quantity. However, since the thin film layer is made of a metal film and the absorption of the metal film is used, the influence of the wavelength dependence of the incident light on the transmitted light quantity of the transmitted light 8 is reduced. It has the specific effect that it can be made smaller.

Although the optical element is a prism in the first embodiment, the optical element may be a lens according to a required optical system, and the light amount filter of the present invention may be arranged adjacent to the lens. Needless to say, it has the same effect.

(Embodiment 2) Next, FIG. 3 is a sectional view of a light quantity filter according to a second embodiment of the present invention.
In the light amount filter according to the second embodiment of the present invention, a dielectric film 31 is formed on a substrate 30, a step is formed on the dielectric film 31, and a thin film layer 34 made of a metal thin film is formed on a step recess 32. It has a configuration in which an anti-reflection film 35 is formed in order to make the transmitted light of the step convex portion 33 100%.

Of the incident light 36 applied to the light quantity filter, the transmitted light 37 that has passed through the stepped projection 33 has a transmission efficiency of 10
Since the transmitted light 38 that has passed through the stepped concave portion 32 is attenuated by the absorption of the thin film layer 34, the transmitted light amount can be varied by the light amount filter. Can be set to a predetermined value by the step amount 39 as in the first embodiment.
The first advantage is that the transmitted light quantity of the transmitted light 38 and the phase difference between the transmitted lights 37 and 38 can be accurately determined and the variation can be reduced.
This is the same as the embodiment.

Further, in the second embodiment, a step is formed on the dielectric film 31. This has a unique effect that the step amount 39 can be set regardless of the material of the substrate 30. That is, the necessary phase difference between the transmitted lights 37 and 38 can be multiplied by the step amount 39 and the refractive index of the material forming the step.
9 is decided by itself. However, when the required phase difference is large, the amount of the step becomes large, and the etching time for forming the step becomes long. At this time, the surface property of the stepped concave portion, which is the etched surface, is deteriorated. However, in the second embodiment, since the step is formed by the dielectric film 31, the dielectric film 31 having a large refractive index should be selected. For example, the step amount 39 can be reduced, and there is an effect that etching can be performed without deteriorating the surface properties of the step concave portion.

In the second embodiment, the stepped recess 3
2 has a dielectric film 31, but the dielectric film 31 may be formed only on the stepped portion.

In the second embodiment, the thin film layer 34 is formed of a metal film. However, the first embodiment is different from the first embodiment in that a single dielectric film or a plurality of dielectric films are laminated to obtain a desired amount of transmitted light. This is the same as the embodiment.

Although the optical element is a prism in the second embodiment, the optical element may be a lens according to a required optical system, and the light amount filter of the present invention may be arranged adjacent to the lens. Having the same curing is the same as in the first embodiment.

Next (Embodiment 3) FIG. 4 is a sectional view of a light intensity filter in the third light intensity filter in the embodiment of FIG. 5 A-A ₁ line shown in FIG. 4 of the present invention. The light amount filter 40 according to the third embodiment of the present invention is formed directly on a composite prism 41 that is an optical element.
It has a configuration in which a step is formed on the prism 41, a thin film layer 44 made of a metal thin film is formed on the step recess 42, and an antireflection film 45 is formed in order to make the transmitted light of the step protrusion 43 100%. I have.

Of the incident light 46 applied to the light amount filter, the transmitted light 47 that has passed through the step convex portion 43 has a transmission efficiency of 10
Since the transmitted light 48 passing through the stepped concave portion 42 is attenuated by the absorption of the thin film layer 44, the transmitted light amount of the light amount filter can be made different.

As in the first embodiment, the transmitted light beams 47 and 48 can eliminate the phase difference or have a predetermined phase difference by the step amount 49.

Further, according to the third embodiment, since the light quantity filter is formed directly on the optical element, there is no deterioration in optical characteristics between the light quantity filter and the optical element. This has a specific effect that an optical element having a small size can be formed.

In the third embodiment, the thin film layer 44 is formed of a metal film. However, the first embodiment is different from the first embodiment in that a single or a plurality of dielectric films are laminated to obtain a desired amount of transmitted light. This is the same as the embodiment.

(Embodiment 4) Next, as a fourth embodiment, a method of manufacturing a light quantity filter according to the present invention will be described with reference to FIG.

First, as shown in FIG.
A photoresist pattern 62 is formed thereon. Next,
The substrate 61 is etched by a predetermined amount using the photoresist pattern 62 as a mask (FIG. 6B). And
A thin film layer 63 made of a metal film is formed without removing the photoresist 62 (FIG. 6C). Thereafter, the photoresist 62 is removed together with the thin film layer 63 on the photoresist 62 (FIG. 6D), and an anti-reflection film 64 is formed.

The substrate 61 has a required phase difference, that is, the substrate 6
The etching is performed by an etching amount such that the product of the refractive index of 1 and the etching amount becomes a predetermined value. In this embodiment, the ion beam etching method is used as the etching method. As a result, the amount of etching can be reduced with high accuracy, and the variation can be reduced. That is, there is an effect that a light quantity filter with high accuracy in phase difference and small variation can be manufactured.

Further, according to the manufacturing method of the present embodiment, since the etching pattern of the substrate 61 and the pattern of the thin film layer 63 can be formed by one photoresist pattern 62, it is possible to manufacture efficiently. Further, the thin film layer 63 is formed on the etched surface of the substrate 61 (stepped concave portion).
Only in this case, there is an effect that it can be formed with high positional accuracy.

Further, since the thin film layer 63 is formed by sputtering a metal film, the film thickness can be accurately controlled and the dispersion can be reduced. That is, the transmitted light amount can be controlled accurately and the dispersion is small. This has the effect that a light quantity filter can be manufactured.

In the manufacturing method according to the present embodiment, the substrate 61 is etched by ion beam etching, but may be etched by chemical etching. further,
Although the thin film layer 63 is formed by forming a metal film by a sputtering method, the same effect is obtained by a vapor deposition method, and the same effect is obtained by a dielectric film formed of a single layer or a plurality of layers as a material of the thin film layer. Further, in the present embodiment, the substrate is a flat plate, but it goes without saying that the steps of the present embodiment can be performed on an optical element such as a prism.

(Fifth Embodiment) Next, as a fifth embodiment, a method of manufacturing a light quantity filter according to the present invention will be described with reference to FIG.

First, as shown in FIG.
A dielectric film 72 is formed thereon. Next, a photoresist pattern 73 is formed on the dielectric film 72 (FIG. 7B).
Then, the dielectric film 72 is etched by a predetermined amount using the photoresist pattern 73 as a mask (FIG. 7).
(C)) A thin film layer 74 made of a metal film is formed without removing the photoresist 73 (FIG. 7D). Thereafter, the photoresist 73 is removed together with the thin film layer 74 on the photoresist 73 (FIG. 7E), and an antireflection film 75 is formed.

According to the manufacturing method of the present embodiment, the dielectric film 72 is formed by one photoresist pattern 73.
Since the etching pattern and the pattern of the thin film layer 74 can be formed, it can be efficiently manufactured.
The thin film layer 74 is formed by etching the dielectric film 72 (stepped recess).
Only in the case of the fourth embodiment, it is possible to form the semiconductor device only with high positional accuracy. Further, it is the same as the fourth embodiment that the phase difference and the amount of transmitted light can be reduced with high accuracy and the variation can be reduced, and that this step can be applied to an optical member such as a prism.

In the manufacturing method according to the fifth embodiment, the dielectric film 72 is etched by an amount such that the product of the etching amount and the refractive index of the dielectric film 72 becomes a predetermined value. However, when the required phase difference, that is, the value of the product of the etching amount and the refractive index is large, the etching amount is large, the time required for etching is long, and the surface property of the etched surface is impaired. Choosing a material with a large refractive index reduces the etching time,
It has a unique effect that it can be manufactured without impairing the surface properties of the etched surface. Further, the material of the dielectric film can be selected also from the viewpoint of the adhesion to the thin film layer, which has an effect that a highly reliable light quantity filter can be manufactured.

Although the substrate is a flat plate in this embodiment, it goes without saying that the steps of this embodiment can be performed on an optical element such as a prism.

[0055]

As described above, the light amount filter according to the present invention has the effects that the transmitted light amount and the phase difference are accurate and the variation is small.

Further, according to the method of manufacturing the light quantity filter of the present invention, there is an effect that the thin film layer for adjusting the transmitted light quantity can be accurately formed at a predetermined position.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a light amount filter according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view of a light amount filter according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a sectional view of a light amount filter according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a light amount filter according to a third embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a sectional view of a light amount filter according to a third embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a sectional view showing a method of manufacturing a light quantity filter according to a fourth embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a sectional view showing a method of manufacturing a light quantity filter according to a fifth embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a sectional view showing the structure of the entire optical element according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 9 is a cross-sectional view of a conventional light amount filter.

FIG. 10 is a cross-sectional view illustrating a method of manufacturing a conventional light amount filter.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1, 30, 61, 71, 91 Substrate 2, 32, 42 Step recess 3, 33, 43 Step protrusion 4, 34, 44, 63, 74 Thin film layer 5, 35, 45, 64, 75 Anti-reflection film 6, 36, 46 Incident light 7, 8, 37, 38, 47, 48 Transmitted light 9, 39, 49 Step difference 10, 40, 81 Light intensity filter 11 Optical element 31, 72 Dielectric film 41 Prism 62, 73 Photoresist pattern 82 Phase diffraction grating 83 Region where no diffraction grating is provided 92, 94 Mask 93 Phase correction film

Claims (7)

[Claims] 1. A light quantity filter formed on a substrate adjacent to an optical element, the light quantity filter having a step formed on a base material constituting the light quantity filter, wherein at least one layer is formed on a concave side portion of the step. A light quantity filter comprising a thin film layer, wherein the amount of transmitted light is different between the convex part and the concave part. 2. A light amount filter directly formed on an optical element, the light amount filter having a step formed on a base material constituting the light amount filter, and at least one thin film layer formed at a concave portion side of the step. And a light amount filter that makes the amount of transmitted light different between the convex portion and the concave portion. 3. The light quantity filter according to claim 1, wherein the thin film layer formed on the concave side portion of the step is made of a metal thin film. 4. The light amount filter according to claim 1, wherein the optical element is a prism. 5. A method of manufacturing a light quantity filter, comprising: after forming a photoresist pattern on a substrate or a dielectric film formed on the substrate, etching the substrate to remove the photoresist layer. Forming a thin film layer without forming the thin film layer and removing the photoresist and the thin film layer formed on the photoresist at the same time. 6. The method according to claim 5, wherein the thin film layer formed after the etching of the substrate is made of a metal thin film. 7. The method according to claim 5, wherein the substrate is a prism.