Photolithography of integrated optic devices in sol-gel glasses

Edgar A. Mendoza; Douglas J. Ferrell; Steven J. Syracuse; Albert N. Khalil; Robert A. Lieberman

doi:10.1117/12.188994

13 October 1994 Photolithography of integrated optic devices in sol-gel glasses

Edgar A. Mendoza, Douglas J. Ferrell, Steven J. Syracuse, Albert N. Khalil, Robert A. Lieberman

Proceedings Volume 2288, Sol-Gel Optics III; (1994) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.188994
Event: SPIE's 1994 International Symposium on Optics, Imaging, and Instrumentation, 1994, San Diego, CA, United States

Abstract

Advances in integrated optics devices require the development of materials and technologies that can transmit, guide, receive, multiplex, demultiplex, modulate, and demodulate optical signals. These requirements are crucial for the realization of advanced integrated optic devices that fully employ the potentially wide bandwidth (approximately THz) of optical signal processing and computing. The authors are developing an innovative new technology for the photolithographic fabrication of sol-gel derived integrated optic devices (sol-gel IODs). The fabrication procedure is based on direct photolithographic writing of IODs onto a photoactive sol-gel glass matrix. Sol-gel glasses are made by a two-step process: first a gel film is chemically formed and dried to a porous state, and second the porous film is densified into solid glass at high temperature. An organometallic photosensitizer is doped into the porous matrix after the first step. Waveguide patterns are then formed by straightforward photolithographic techniques, and the unexposed sensitizer is removed. The final densification step locks in the waveguide patterns, creating a durable, impermeable integrated optic device. Depending on the choice of sensitizer, these waveguide patterns can be passive (simply having a higher index of refraction than the surrounding host glass) or active (possessing optical properties that can be influenced by the application of electric fields). The uncomplicated nature of this process makes this a very promising approach for the fabrication of commercially viable integrated optic devices.

Citation Download Citation

Edgar A. Mendoza, Douglas J. Ferrell, Steven J. Syracuse, Albert N. Khalil, and Robert A. Lieberman "Photolithography of integrated optic devices in sol-gel glasses", Proc. SPIE 2288, Sol-Gel Optics III, (13 October 1994); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.188994

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