Process for Fabricating Optical Wave-Guiding Components and Components Made by the Process

The present invention relates to optical waveguides and wave-guiding components and, more particularly, to a process for fabricating optical waveguides and components in a substrate material using ion implantation and further processing of the substrate to create optical waveguide and waveguide components of controllable phase velocity. The invention also relates to various optical wave-guiding components or elements produced by this process.

The guiding structure in optical waveguide elements such as optical fibers is a region of relatively high index of refraction surrounded by a region of lower index of refraction. Because of the lowered phase velocity in the central region or core of high index of refraction, the energy density in the surrounding, lower index region decays exponentially, effectively confining all the light energy to the immediate region of the hiqh index core. The core thus acts as a light guiding region and the surrounding region acts as a light containing or confining region, thus providing wave-guiding properties with little loss.

Such structures are used increasingly in the field of signal transmission, particularly communications, for guiding information-carrying light from one location to another. The ability to guide the light with little loss is, of course, an important aspect of optical waveguide systems. In addition, it is important to be able to perform a variety of functions on the light traversing an optical waveguide system, such as mixing, splitting, attenuating, sampling, and detecting.

The present invention provides a novel process for fabricating optical wave-guiding components in a substrate, particularly a silicon substrate. Using the present techniques, a variety of optical wave-guiding components such as waveguides, directional couplers, attenuators, detectors and terminations can be readily fabricated. As will be seen hereinafter, the use of ion implantation and other known integrated circuit fabrication techniques permits the creation of optical waveguide of controllable phase velocity which can be configured to provide this wide variety of optical components.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a novel fabrication technique for producing optical wave-guiding components in a substrate material through the use of selective ion implantation and further known integrated circuit fabrication techniques.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide a novel fabrication technique for producing optical wave-guiding components in a silicon substrate using known integrated circuit fabrication techniques to produce an interior or core region of higher index of refraction than a region of the substrate surrounding the core region.

It is still another, more specific object of the present invention to provide a novel optical waveguide and a fabrication process for producing optical waveguide and other optical elements in a silicon substrate by implanting a dopant in the substrate and oxidizing at least the portion of the substrate surrounding the implanted dopant, whereby conventional integrated circuit fabrication techniques can be used to produce a variety of optical components particularly suited for interfacing optical and electronic systems.

It is yet a further object of the present invention to provide novel optical wave-guiding components with desired phase velocity characteristics and in an variety of useful configurations.

It is still a further object of the present invention to provide a novel optical wave-guiding structure in a silicon substrate.

In accordance with the invention, ions of a suitable dopant are implanted into a substrate to create a interior region of the substrate which has an index of refraction exceeding that of the substrate. The substrate is further processed to produce a region surrounding the interior region of ion implant in order to produce a surrounding, confining region of lower index of refraction than the interior, ion implant region. The further processing also reduces optical imperfections caused by ion implantation.

In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the substrate is silicon and silicon dioxide forms the surrounding medium of lower index of refraction. Silicon dioxide has an index of refraction of approximately 1.4, so a doped core or interior region having an index of refraction only 2% higher than the surrounding silicon dioxide will effectively confine the light energy within a region approximately 1 micron from the core.

A variety of dopants, added to the substrate by ion implantation as a few atomic percent of the silicon concentration will increase the index of refraction to the desired extent. For example, boron, phosphorous, arsenic and germanium may be incorporated into the silicon substrate to provide the interior or core region of relatively higher index of refraction.

In the preferred form of the invention, the dopant is incorporated into the silicon substrate by conventional ion implantation techniques. The silicon substrate is masked in a suitable conventional manner to form a pattern with an opening through which the dopant ions can be selectively introduced. A larger opening is then formed by suitable masking techniques with the doped region of the substrate approximately centered in this larger opening. The masking material selected for producing this larger opening is preferably impervious to common silicon oxidizers so that the exposed silicon substrate can be oxidized selectively to produce an oxide layer surrounding the implanted dopant.

In this regard, the silicon substrate may be oxidized to form a thin oxide layer over its surface and a thin silicon nitride layer may be deposited over the oxide layer using techniques common to the localized oxidation fabrication process for integrated circuits. Using a first mask, an opening is defined in the silicon nitride, leaving the silicon dioxide in place. This opening will define the extent of the light confining region of the component so it has the approximate, desired dimensions of the area of low index of refraction. Using a second mask, an opening is defined and etched in the silicon dioxide layer. This opening has the approximate, desired dimensions of the interior or core region of high index of refraction which will ultimately form the wave-guiding region.

Using ion implantation, a selected dopant such as arsenic, boron, germanium or phosphorous is implanted relatively deeply (e.g. one micron) into the underlying silicon through the opening in the oxide layer. A dopant such as boron may be preferable since it has a segregation coefficient favoring incorporation into silicon dioxide which is ultimately used as the light confining element of the component. Phosphorous and arsenic, because of their very different segregation properties, might have a tendency to accumulate ahead of a growing interface of silicon dioxide.

The oxide layer is then removed to the edge defined by the silicon nitride layer and the silicon substrate is oxidized through this larger opening. Because the nitride is impermeable to oxygen and water vapor, two common silicon oxidizers, oxide grows almost exclusively in the open region defined by the opening in the silicon nitride layer. As the oxide grows, it consumes the substrate silicon and, when the growing interface reaches the dopant, it is also consumed and becomes incorporated in the silica in a localized region. The oxide growth is continued to a thickness of about 2 microns so that it totally surrounds the interior doped region. In this connection, it may be advantageous to carry out the oxidation process at an elevated pressure to ensure better localization of the dopant and it may be desirable to use a dry oxidation process to avoid optical losses associated with water in the lattice.

The resultant product is an optical wave-guiding component formed in the silcon substrate with an interior, guiding region or core produced by the implanted dopant and a surrounding, containing region produced by the grown silicon dioxide. The interior region or core has an index refraction sufficiently greater than the surrounding oxide region to satisfy the requirements of an optical waveguide, i.e. all the energy is essentially confined to the immediate region of the high index core.

The foregoing and other objects and advantages of the present invention will be appreciated by one skilled in the art to which the invention pertains from the following detailed description when read in conjunction with the appended drawings in which:

FIGS. 1A-1E are schematic diagrams illustrating a preferred embodiment of the fabrication technique in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 2A is a plan view of an optical wave-guiding component, in particular on optical coupler, produced in accordance with the fabrication technique of the present invention;

FIG. 2B is a view in cross section of the component of FIG. 2A before subjecting the component to oxidation;

FIG. 2C is a view in cross section of the component of FIG. 2A after subjecting the component to oxidation;

FIG. 3 is a plan view of another optical wave-guiding component having attenuating properties and fabricated in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 4 is a plan view of an optical waveguide terminator fabricated in accordance with the present invention; and,

FIG. 5 is a plan view of an optical wave-guiding component and electronic circuit component formed on the same substrate in cooperative relationship .

A preferred embodiment of a fabrication technique for producing optical wave-guiding components in accordance with the present invention is illustrated at various stages of the process in FIGS. 1A-1E. Referring now to FIG. 1A, a silicon substrate, 10 such as a silicon wafer or chip used in the manufacturer of integrated circuits is oxidized to create a silicon dioxide layer 12 on a surface thereof. A second layer of silicon nitride 14 is deposited on the silicon dioxide layer. The formation of the oxide and nitride layers is accomplished using techniques common to the localized oxidation fabrication process.

An opening is produced in a suitable conventional manner through the silicon nitride layer 14, leaving the silicon dioxide layer 12 in place as is shown in FIG. 1B. This opening defines the desired extent of the light confining region of lower index of refraction in the finished component as will be seen hereinafter.

As is illustrated in FIG. 1C, an opening is produced in the silicon dioxide layer 12 using conventional techniques. For example, a photoresist 16 may be deposited over the entire upper surface of the structure and then selectively exposed to light through an optical mask to produce an opening through which the opening in the silicon dioxide layer 12 may be etched. The photoresist 16 used to define the opening in the silicon dioxide layer may be left in place for the subsequent ion implantation step, a practice commonly followed in integrated circuit fabrication.

The opening in the oxide layer 12 defines the approximate extent of an interior region of the substrate which will be doped through conventional ion implantation techniques. This interior region, as will be seen hereinafter, will form the guiding region or core of the optical wave guide component. In order to produce this guiding region, ions are implanted into the substrate 10 though the opening in the photoresist and silicon dioxide layer illustrated in FIG. 1C. Ions of a selected dopant such as arsenic, boron, germanium or phosphorous are implanted relatively deeply into the underlying silicon (e.g., one micron) using suitable energy levels. The vertical extent of the dopant is determined by the implant energy through well known stopping statistics.

As illustrated in FIG. 1D, the photoresist 16 is removed and the oxide layer 12 is also removed back to the opening defined by the silicon nitride layer 14. The interior region 18 defined by the implanted dopant is approximately centered in the opening in the silicon nitride layer.

The substrate 10 is then subjected to oxidation through the opening in the nitride and oxide layers by a suitable oxidation technique. Because the silicon nitride is impermeable to oxygen and water vapor, two common silicon oxidizers, the substrate oxidizes almost exclusively in the open region. As the oxide grows, it consumes the substrate silicon and, when the growing oxide interface reaches the dopant, it is also consumed and becomes incorporated in the silica (i.e. the grown silicon dioxide) in a localized region as illustrated in FIG. 1E. The oxide growth 20 (FIG. 1E) is allowed to proceed to a depth sufficient to produce a region of oxidized substrate completely surrounding the implanted dopant, e.g. to a depth of about 2 microns. It may be advantageous to carry out the oxidizing process at an elevated pressure to insure better localization of the dopant.

FIG. 1E illustrates a completed optical wave-guiding component, e.g. a straight optical waveguide, made in accordance with the above-described process. The dopant 18 is approximately centered in the thick grown oxide and defines an interior region or core for guiding light, surrounded by the silicon dioxide light confining region 20 of lower index of refraction.

It will be appreciated that the foregoing structure described in connection with FIGS. 1A-1E is for illustrative purposes only. The complete process in its preferred form is illustrated and described, but the resulting structure shown in FIG. 1E is incomplete in that such a waveguide structure will typically start at a light source and end at some utilization device or further wave-guiding element.

FIGS. 2A-2C illustrate a portion of an optical wave-guiding component fabricated in accordance with the process of the present invention. That portion of the component illustrated in FIGS. 2A-2C is a directional coupler wherein weak coupling is provided between two optical waveguides.

Referring to FIG. 2A, the directional coupler comprises two optical waveguides 22A and 22B each including an interior region or core 24A and 24B, respectively. An interior coupling region 25 extends between the light guiding cores 24A and 24B to provide optical coupling between them. Surrounding the light guiding cores and coupling region 25 is a light containing region 26A, 26B of lower index of refraction than the core. The interior guiding and coupling regions and surrounding light containing regions are produced, respectively, by ion implantation and oxidizing techniques as previously described.

FIG. 2B illustrates the component of FIG. 2B in cross-section along the line B--B. In FIG. 2B, the component is illustrated just before the oxidation stage of the process. A suitable dopant defines the interior, light guiding cores 24A and 24B and the interior coupling region 25. As illustrated, the ion implantation process is controlled so that the coupling region 25 extends from one core 24A to the other core 24B providing a light guiding path therebetween. The longitudinal and vertical extents and/or the doping density of the coupling region are controlled to provide a desired amount of optical coupling between the cores.

FIG. 2C illustrates the completed coupling section of the optical coupler of FIG. 2A along the line B--B after growth of the oxide, light confining region 26 around the interior light guiding regions. A portion of the light guided along the optical waveguide 24A is coupled through the coupling element 25 to the optical waveguide 24B and vice-versa. In the illustrated embodiment, the concentration of the dopant forming the interior coupling region is less than that of the cores to provide relatively weak coupling. This degree of coupling can be readily controlled with extreme precision because of the precision of the processing techniques involved. In particular, present implantation techniques provide precision on the order of 2% which assures excellent performance within any fabrication lot and excellent reproducibility from lot to lot related, of course, to the ability of contemporary integrated circuit fabrication equipment to repeat temperatures, times and gas flows.

FIG. 3 illustrates an optical attenuator fabricated in accordance with the disclosed technique. The only difference between the component of FIG. 3 and that of FIG. 1E is the shape of the light confining region. Accordingly, like numerical designations have been used to indicate like elements of the structure.

As can be readily seen from FIG. 3, the light guiding core 18 produced by ion implantation is of uniform width whereas the confining, oxide region 20 gradually decreases and then increases in width along its length as is generally indicated at 30. Because the substrate silicon is highly absorbing to the wavelengths of light commonly used in optical fiber systems, e.g. wavelengths of 1.15 microns or less, an attenuation of the light travelling in the guiding region 18 results from bringing the sidewalls of the confining region 20, and thus the silicon substrate, closer to the guiding region in a gradual, tapered manner as illustrated at 30.

The principles involved in the attenuator of FIG. 3 can be extended to the production of a termination as illustrated in FIG. 4. The sidewalls of the light confining region 20 and the light guiding region itself may be tapered as is generally indicated at 32 in FIG. 4, in order to gradually guide the light waves into the silicon substrate. The light is absorbed by exciting the electron-hole pairs in the silicon much as with the attenuator of FIG. 3, but the absorption is complete rather than partial.

The same principle may be used to form an extremely efficient detector element in conjunction with a wave-guiding component in order to provide detection of the light waves guided by the component. Referring to FIG. 5, the structure of the termination of FIG. 4 is used to guide the light waves into the silicon substrate wherein one or more diodes or other suitable detector elements are formed by conventional semiconductor fabrication techniques. For example, a p-type region may be diffused into an n-type substrate, or vice-versa, to produce a diode region or regions generally indicated at 34. The tapered region 32 extends into the diode region 34 so that the light energy is guided into the diode region and is detected. Similar structures may be incorporated into integrated circuits to provide amplification, etc.

It will be appreciated that a wide variety of optical components may be fabricated in accordance with the principles of the present invention. Various optical elements can be integrated in a common substrate and various electronic integrated circuit elements may be fabricated on the same substrate to produce complex system configurations with a relatively simple and straightforward approach. Using known integrated circuit fabrication techniques, a highly precise, reproducible line of components and systems can be produced.

The principles, preferred embodiments and modes of operation of the present invention have been described in the foregoing specification. The invention which is intended to be protected herein, however, is not to be construed as limited to the particular forms disclosed, since these are to be regarded as illustrative rather than restrictive. Moreover, variations and changes may be made by those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit of the present invention.