Classifications

• • G—PHYSICS
  • G02—OPTICS
  • G02B—OPTICAL ELEMENTS, SYSTEMS OR APPARATUS
  • G02B6/00—Light guides; Structural details of arrangements comprising light guides and other optical elements, e.g. couplings
  • G02B6/10—Light guides; Structural details of arrangements comprising light guides and other optical elements, e.g. couplings of the optical waveguide type
• • G—PHYSICS
  • G02—OPTICS
  • G02B—OPTICAL ELEMENTS, SYSTEMS OR APPARATUS
  • G02B6/00—Light guides; Structural details of arrangements comprising light guides and other optical elements, e.g. couplings
  • G02B6/24—Coupling light guides
  • G02B6/26—Optical coupling means
  • G02B6/30—Optical coupling means for use between fibre and thin-film device
• • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
  • B29—WORKING OF PLASTICS; WORKING OF SUBSTANCES IN A PLASTIC STATE IN GENERAL
  • B29C—SHAPING OR JOINING OF PLASTICS; SHAPING OF MATERIAL IN A PLASTIC STATE, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR; AFTER-TREATMENT OF THE SHAPED PRODUCTS, e.g. REPAIRING
  • B29C33/00—Moulds or cores; Details thereof or accessories therefor
  • B29C33/38—Moulds or cores; Details thereof or accessories therefor characterised by the material or the manufacturing process
  • B29C33/3842—Manufacturing moulds, e.g. shaping the mould surface by machining
  • B29C33/3857—Manufacturing moulds, e.g. shaping the mould surface by machining by making impressions of one or more parts of models, e.g. shaped articles and including possible subsequent assembly of the parts
  • B29C33/3878—Manufacturing moulds, e.g. shaping the mould surface by machining by making impressions of one or more parts of models, e.g. shaped articles and including possible subsequent assembly of the parts used as masters for making successive impressions
• • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
  • B29—WORKING OF PLASTICS; WORKING OF SUBSTANCES IN A PLASTIC STATE IN GENERAL
  • B29D—PRODUCING PARTICULAR ARTICLES FROM PLASTICS OR FROM SUBSTANCES IN A PLASTIC STATE
  • B29D11/00—Producing optical elements, e.g. lenses or prisms
  • B29D11/0074—Production of other optical elements not provided for in B29D11/00009- B29D11/0073
  • B29D11/0075—Connectors for light guides
• • G—PHYSICS
  • G02—OPTICS
  • G02B—OPTICAL ELEMENTS, SYSTEMS OR APPARATUS
  • G02B6/00—Light guides; Structural details of arrangements comprising light guides and other optical elements, e.g. couplings
  • G02B6/10—Light guides; Structural details of arrangements comprising light guides and other optical elements, e.g. couplings of the optical waveguide type
  • G02B6/12—Light guides; Structural details of arrangements comprising light guides and other optical elements, e.g. couplings of the optical waveguide type of the integrated circuit kind
  • G02B6/122—Basic optical elements, e.g. light-guiding paths
  • G02B6/1221—Basic optical elements, e.g. light-guiding paths made from organic materials
• • G—PHYSICS
  • G02—OPTICS
  • G02B—OPTICAL ELEMENTS, SYSTEMS OR APPARATUS
  • G02B6/00—Light guides; Structural details of arrangements comprising light guides and other optical elements, e.g. couplings
  • G02B6/24—Coupling light guides
• • G—PHYSICS
  • G02—OPTICS
  • G02B—OPTICAL ELEMENTS, SYSTEMS OR APPARATUS
  • G02B6/00—Light guides; Structural details of arrangements comprising light guides and other optical elements, e.g. couplings
  • G02B6/24—Coupling light guides
  • G02B6/42—Coupling light guides with opto-electronic elements
  • G02B6/4201—Packages, e.g. shape, construction, internal or external details
  • G02B6/4202—Packages, e.g. shape, construction, internal or external details for coupling an active element with fibres without intermediate optical elements, e.g. fibres with plane ends, fibres with shaped ends, bundles
• • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
  • B29—WORKING OF PLASTICS; WORKING OF SUBSTANCES IN A PLASTIC STATE IN GENERAL
  • B29C—SHAPING OR JOINING OF PLASTICS; SHAPING OF MATERIAL IN A PLASTIC STATE, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR; AFTER-TREATMENT OF THE SHAPED PRODUCTS, e.g. REPAIRING
  • B29C35/00—Heating, cooling or curing, e.g. crosslinking or vulcanising; Apparatus therefor
  • B29C35/02—Heating or curing, e.g. crosslinking or vulcanizing during moulding, e.g. in a mould
  • B29C35/08—Heating or curing, e.g. crosslinking or vulcanizing during moulding, e.g. in a mould by wave energy or particle radiation
  • B29C35/0805—Heating or curing, e.g. crosslinking or vulcanizing during moulding, e.g. in a mould by wave energy or particle radiation using electromagnetic radiation
  • B29C2035/0838—Heating or curing, e.g. crosslinking or vulcanizing during moulding, e.g. in a mould by wave energy or particle radiation using electromagnetic radiation using laser
• • G—PHYSICS
  • G02—OPTICS
  • G02F—OPTICAL DEVICES OR ARRANGEMENTS FOR THE CONTROL OF LIGHT BY MODIFICATION OF THE OPTICAL PROPERTIES OF THE MEDIA OF THE ELEMENTS INVOLVED THEREIN; NON-LINEAR OPTICS; FREQUENCY-CHANGING OF LIGHT; OPTICAL LOGIC ELEMENTS; OPTICAL ANALOGUE/DIGITAL CONVERTERS
  • G02F1/00—Devices or arrangements for the control of the intensity, colour, phase, polarisation or direction of light arriving from an independent light source, e.g. switching, gating or modulating; Non-linear optics
  • G02F1/01—Devices or arrangements for the control of the intensity, colour, phase, polarisation or direction of light arriving from an independent light source, e.g. switching, gating or modulating; Non-linear optics for the control of the intensity, phase, polarisation or colour 
  • G02F1/061—Devices or arrangements for the control of the intensity, colour, phase, polarisation or direction of light arriving from an independent light source, e.g. switching, gating or modulating; Non-linear optics for the control of the intensity, phase, polarisation or colour  based on electro-optical organic material
  • G02F1/065—Devices or arrangements for the control of the intensity, colour, phase, polarisation or direction of light arriving from an independent light source, e.g. switching, gating or modulating; Non-linear optics for the control of the intensity, phase, polarisation or colour  based on electro-optical organic material in an optical waveguide structure

Definitions

• the invention relates to a method according to the preamble of the main claim and is used in the mass production of single-mode or ultimate-mode components of integrated optics with monolithically integrated fiber-chip coupling.
• optical connection technology chip-fiber coupling
• Even smaller private exchanges with about 1,000 subscriber connections require, for example, several thousand optical connections between the individual sub-switching stages, since the number and complexity of the optical components integrated on individual substrates are severely restricted due to the extreme aspect ratios in the optics.
• the feasibility and reliability (mechanical and thermal stability) of the optical connection technology and the required connection effort ultimately determine the achievable degree of expansion of an optical switching system or an optical communication network.
• the light coupling efficiency in the coupling of glass fibers and integrated waveguides of the components depends heavily on the distance between the end faces, and very much on a lateral displacement and an angular tilt of the optical axes relative to each other.
• the glass fiber has * when coupling therefore five degrees of freedom that must be optimized independently of each other: an axial degree of freedom, two lateral degrees of freedom and two angular degrees of freedom.
• an axial degree of freedom In the field distributions typical for glass fibers, z.
• a lateral offset of only a few ⁇ m leads to coupling losses in the dB range.
• An effective coupling method requires a reduction in the degree of freedom and a possibility for the simultaneous positioning of all fibers in a bundle. From appl. Opt.
• V-grooves As positioning trenches for the glass fibers in a silicon substrate.
• the anisotropically etched V-grooves are delimited on all sides by slowly etching ⁇ 111 ⁇ planes, which enclose an angle of 54.7 ° to the wafer surface.
• the integrated waveguides are aligned with these V-grooves, the width of the grooves being optimized in this way can, that the resulting groove shape of the fiber core comes to lie in the same horizontal plane as the optical waveguide.
• This method also has the decisive disadvantage that mass production of integrated optical components is not possible.
• mass production is a prerequisite for efficient and practical use.
• the method according to the invention according to the characterizing part of the main claim offers the advantage, in contrast, that mass production of polymer components with integrated and self-adjusting coupling of fiber guide structures to optical waveguide components is possible on a common integrated optical chip.
• high-precision pre-adjusted primary structures are produced on silicon wafers, electroplated and then reproduced in polymeric plastics by injection molding.
• V-shaped trench structures are etched into the ⁇ 100 ⁇ -oriented wafer in a simple manner by known anisotropic etching techniques of the silicon, resulting in a highly precise structure by means of which the later exact position of the fiber structure and waveguide structure relative to one another is defined.
• a V-groove " is particularly suitable as a fiber guiding structure, since the angular adjustment, parallel to the crystal surface, is set automatically and the height of the fiber core over the wafer surface can be precisely adjusted and controlled in terms of production technology via the opening width of the V-groove.
• the V-grooves are advantageously filled with polymeric materials and the resulting flat surface is subsequently coated with a photoresist or another structurable polymer.
• trench-shaped openings are defined in the cover layer thus created, which define the dimensions of the later optical waveguides.
• the trenches are subsequently reopened by means of excimer laser ablation technology known per se, and vertical fiber structure stops are cut in a particularly advantageous manner at the end of the V-grooves on the shaft structure side.
• the master structure comprising the optical waveguide pre-structure and the integrated fiber guiding structure is molded by known galvanic processes.
• the resulting negative form is used to produce numerous daughter copies of the master structure. This is advantageously carried out by injection molding or injection molding processes in polymer materials with suitable optical properties.
• the master structure for the fiber-chip coupling simultaneously produces a master structure for a cover plate connected to the base element, which is also galvanically molded in accordance with the method described above and for production of subsidiary structures.
• connection between the base body carrying the fiber and waveguide structure and the cover plate is formed by a bent edge.
• the crease edge is achieved in a simple manner by etching pairs of small V-shaped structures along the later crease edge at a corresponding distance from one another simultaneously with the anisotropic etching of the fiber guide structures.
• the distance between the pair of V-grooves determines the later distance between the polymer base plate and the cover plate in a particularly advantageous manner.
• This common master structure is now galvanically molded in one piece, and the resulting negative shape is used for the joint production of the daughter structures.
• a second negative shape is created, which has a large V-groove, which was created using the anisotropic etching technique already described, which fits exactly the wrong way round between the smaller pairs of V-grooves. This results in a micromechanical fine adjustment of the two mold inserts. Since the angles of inclination of the respective master structures of the two negative forms lie opposite one another, the guide structures fit flatly onto one another.
• the basic element and cover plate can also be produced separately, molded and reproduced as equivalent.
• the optical field distribution in the waveguide can be modeled by the choice of the refractive indices of the cover plate, polymer-filled waveguide channels and polymeric base body together with the dimensions of the waveguide cross section. Due to the direct contact of the light-conducting polymer with the glass fiber and the adjustable, almost radially symmetrical field distribution of the optical fields in the optical waveguide, optimal coupling
• optical polymer components with integrated fiber-chip coupling obtained by the described production method are also used for active polymer components.
• a non-linear optical (NLO) polymer or, for example, a polymer doped with rare earths is introduced into the trench-shaped openings provided for the optical waveguides instead of a passive polymer.
• NLO non-linear optical
• the design of the connection between the fiber guide structure and the waveguide structure is achieved in the manner already described above, so that here too there is a vertical connection between the glass fiber and the optical waveguide.
• NLO polymer used, a passive or also a doped polymer, depends on the use of the polymer component, for example as an opto-optical, acousto-optical, magneto-optical, electro-optical or thermo-optical component or as an optical amplifier.
• the desired layout of the NLO components or the thermo-optical components takes place via the conductor tracks and electrodes.
• the base plate, cover plate and switch film cutouts are produced in the coherent form already described.
• switching foils are used, the recesses in the cover plate are modeled with a smaller depth in accordance with the thickness of the switching foils.
• the thickness of the switching film is to be maintained by the distance between the paired V-grooves along the crease edge.
• FIG. 1 shows a section from a master structure on a silicon substrate in a top view
• FIG. 2 shows the master structure shown in FIG. 1 in longitudinal section
• FIG. 3 shows the master structure shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 with an electroplating mold insert
• FIG. 4 shows a negative form
• FIG. 5 shows a daughter structure obtained with the negative mold shown in FIG. 4,
• FIG. 6 shows an example of a practical application in an optical polymer component with integrated fiber-chip coupling, but without the associated cover plate,
• the master structure shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 shows a section (fiber guide / waveguide coupling point) of a later component.
• the master structure consists of a silicon substrate 10, into which a positioning trench 11 with a V-shaped cross-section is anisotropically etched to accommodate a glass fiber (not shown here).
• the known anisotropic etching technique has a very high level of development and is also used in the prior art specified at the beginning.
• the depth t of the positioning trench 11 is set with the aid of the width w of a rectangular opening in the etching mask.
• alkaline etching media such as
• V-shaped recesses are formed, which enclose a very precise angle of 54.7 ° to the surface. Such an angle also forms on an inclined end face 12 of the positioning trench 11, which extends into the positioning trench 11 over a length a.
• the sloping ⁇ 111 ⁇ side surfaces that form form a natural etching stop defined by the anisotropic etching properties of the crystal.
• R is the 'Fa ⁇ ermantelradius
• ⁇ the inclination angle of the ⁇ 111 ⁇ surfaces against the wafer surface
• w the width of the Po ⁇ itioniergrabens 11 is at the surface Wafer ⁇ .
• a change in w 1 ⁇ m results in a change in the altitude ⁇ .0 0.7 ⁇ m.
• a trench-shaped opening 15 with the dimensions x and y is structured, the cross section of which need not necessarily be rectangular.
• Suitable structuring methods for the cover layer 14 are, for example, exposure methods (photolithography), laser ablation or dry etching methods, such as have been developed for microstructuring.
• the dimensions x and y define the size of the optical waveguide to be provided later in this trench-shaped opening 15.
• the positioning trench 11 following the trench-shaped opening 15 is now opened such that a vertical surface 16 is created.
• the vertical surface 16 serves as a stop for the glass fiber to be inserted later, not shown here.
• the smooth surface 16 created by the laser technology makes further processing of the glass fiber to be inserted unnecessary.
• the cut is made at a distance b from the upper end edge of the positioning trench 11, this distance b exceeding the extent a of the inclined end surface 12 and thus allowing a later butt coupling between the glass fiber and the optical waveguide.
• FIG. 3 shows how the resulting master structure is electroplated.
• the master structure is metallized in a conductive manner and a negative mold 16, which has the identical dimensions of the positioning trench 11 and the trench-like opening 15, is created by means of known electroplating processes, for example based on nickel.
• a demolded negative mold is shown in FIG. The prism-shaped image of the positioning trench 11 and the image of the opening 15 which later receives the optical waveguide can be clearly seen.
• FIG. 5 schematically shows a daughter structure 18 with an inserted glass fiber 19 in a perspective view.
• the inserted glass fiber end is flush at one end with the vertical surface 16 of the daughter copy 18.
• the optical axis 20 of the glass fiber 19 comes to lie through the V-shaped positioning trench 11 at the height of the trench-like opening 15 which will later receive the optical waveguide.
• FIGS. 1 to 5 Another embodiment is shown in Figure 6.
• the procedure explained in FIGS. 1 to 5 referred to a better explanation
• FIG. 6 shows the application using the example of a simple connection 21 and a simultaneous branch 22 on the same component.
• the coupling regions 23 between the glass fibers 24 and the optical waveguides 25 have the structure described in FIGS. 1 to 5.
• the cover plate which closes the waveguide at the top and which leads the glass fibers upwards in suitable recesses, is not shown in FIG. 6 for the sake of illustration.
• FIG. 7 shows an optical polymer component 30 consisting of base plate and cover plate with integrated fiber-chip coupling in the still opened state.
• the inserted glass fibers and the light-guiding polymer to be filled into the waveguide trenches are not shown.
• the positioning trenches 11 with a V-shaped cross section can be clearly seen, to which the trench-shaped openings 15 for the optical waveguides are connected.
• the component furthermore has paired V-shaped grooves 31 which are spaced apart from one another by the distance d. The grooves 31 engage in the resulting space
• V-grooves 31 and 32 Due to the manufacturing process, the V-grooves 31 and 32 have the same inclination angles of their side surfaces.
• the polymer component has further grooves 33, the imaginary center lines of which have the same distance from the kink edge 34 as the imaginary center lines of the grooves 11.
• the mode of operation of the optical polymer component is as follows:
• the glass fiber ends are inserted into the positioning trenches 11 and the trench-shaped openings 15 are filled with light-conducting prepolymer, the refractive index of which is slightly above that of the base plate and cover plate.
• the cover plate 35 is then folded over along the fold edge 34 and is pivoted onto the side receiving the glass fibers and optical waveguides. In the fully assembled state, the grooves 33 press the glass fibers into the positioning trenches 11 with a precise fit.
• the mechanical connection between the cover plate and the structure side is made by the same thermally or optically crosslinkable prepolymer, which is filled into the light guide trenches before being joined together.
• the protruding liquid polymer is flattened during assembly and provides a flat connection after crosslinking.
• the resulting distance between the cover side and the structure side is set by the width of the distance d between the grooves 31.
• the master structure for the polymeric cover plate 35 is also produced by anisotropic etching of silicon wafers.
• the cover plate can be produced independently of the base plate or — as shown in FIG. 7 — together with this on a silicon substrate.
• the width of the mask opening is to be chosen so large that the fiber core is not led through the ⁇ 111 ⁇ surfaces.
• the fiber end stop of the grooves 33 is also produced by filling the etched groove with polymer materials and subsequent laser cutting, as described above.
• FIG. 1 An active optical polymer component is shown in FIG. Only the area of the waveguide structure is shown for clarity.
• the integrated fiber-chip coupling (not shown) at the inputs and outputs of the component is the same as that which has already been described in FIGS. 1 to 7.
• the component has a polymeric base plate 40 with a trench-shaped opening 15 for the optical waveguide and a cover plate 41. Between the base plate 40 and the cover plate 41, an optical buffer film 42 is arranged, which has connection tabs 44 and
• TZBLATT Has electrodes 45 provided electrical conductor tracks 46.
• the electrodes 45 serve to control the switching function and are required in the immediate vicinity of the optical waveguide.
• the electrode arrangement must ensure that the NLO polymer is largely penetrated by the electrical fields between them.
• the metallic conductor tracks must be optically sufficiently insulated from the optical waveguides in order to avoid strong light attenuation.
• the electrical conductor tracks 46 and electrodes 45 are applied in a planar manner to the polymer film 42 in accordance with the layout of the NLO component. This film acts over its thickness e as an optical buffer layer, since the refractive index of the buffer film 42 . is smaller than that of the optical waveguide, but is greater than or equal to the refractive index of the base plate 40 and the cover plate 41.
• the buffer film is first stabilized by a carrier film.
• the buffer film 42 is laminated onto the cover plate 41 with the finished structured electrode 45 and the carrier film is pulled off.
• the glass fiber recesses in the cover plate are kept free or initially covered by the film, and then au ⁇ counseling, such as "processing by a Laser ⁇ .
• the depth of the Aus ⁇ parung in the cover plate 41 is reduced by the thickness e of the buffer film.
• the NLO polymer must be a so-called non-centrosymmetric X (2) polymer in order to be electro-optically active. This must be poled in an electrical field in order to set a preferred molecular direction which is necessary for the linear electro-optical effect.
• the (2) polymer is crosslinked before the crosslinking, that is to say still in the liquid state directly after filling, by means of applied electrical fields across the electrodes 45 on the buffer film 42 and then in the polarized state only networked. Because of the high mobility of the molecules in the liquid state, very high polarization efficiencies can be achieved even with small field strengths and can be permanently stabilized after crosslinking.
• the buffer foil 42 can either protrude laterally from the polymer component for the electrical connection and thus enable simple foil plug contacting, or it can also be supported over a protruding base plate 40 in order to enable simple bonding.
• thermo-optical component is also shown using the example of the right electrode 47.
• the electrode 47 is a heating film trained and is arranged above the optical waveguide.
• thermo-optical switching elements in integrated polymer technology can also be realized with passive light-conducting polymers, for example with suitable refractive indexes using optical adhesives. Because of the strong thermo-optical effects of the polymers, temperature changes of a few ° C in one of the interferer arms of a 2 x 2 switch designed, for example, as a Mach-Zehnder interferometer are sufficient to switch it from the cross to the bar state.
• Another example is the use of active polymer components with integrated fiber guidance as a planar integrated optical amplifier.
• the effects of parametric amplification, in ⁇ _ (3) polymers, or an optically pumped, stimulated emission, by filling in with rare earths, for example Er 3+ , -doped light-conducting polymers and coupling in an adapted pump laser can be used via integrated couplers on the chip.
• the described production method is suitable both for single-mode components in optical communications technology and optical sensor technology and for multi-mode components, for example in local optical networks.
• plastic optical waveguide fibers can be used in the same sense.
• substrates instead of silicon substrates, other anisotropically etching substrate materials, for example indium phosphide, can also be used in the same sense.
• substrate materials for example indium phosphide

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• Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
• Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
• General Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
• Optics & Photonics (AREA)
• Manufacturing & Machinery (AREA)
• Mechanical Engineering (AREA)
• Microelectronics & Electronic Packaging (AREA)
• Health & Medical Sciences (AREA)
• Ophthalmology & Optometry (AREA)
• Optical Couplings Of Light Guides (AREA)
• Optical Integrated Circuits (AREA)

Priority Applications (5)

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Publications (1)

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Family Applications (1)

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Cited By (9)

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Citations (4)

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• 1992
  • 1992-04-10 DE DE4212208A patent/DE4212208A1/de not_active Ceased
• 1993
  • 1993-03-18 DE DE59309666T patent/DE59309666D1/de not_active Expired - Fee Related
  • 1993-03-18 JP JP5517897A patent/JPH08500448A/ja active Pending
  • 1993-03-18 EP EP93905201A patent/EP0635139B1/de not_active Expired - Lifetime
  • 1993-03-18 US US08/318,661 patent/US5526454A/en not_active Expired - Fee Related
  • 1993-03-18 WO PCT/DE1993/000248 patent/WO1993021550A1/de active IP Right Grant
  • 1993-03-22 TW TW082102120A patent/TW274122B/zh active
• 1994
  • 1994-10-10 KR KR1019940703633A patent/KR950701081A/ko not_active Withdrawn

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