Micro benchtop optics by bulk silicon micromachining

Patent · Fri Dec 31 23:00:00 EST 1999

OSTI ID:873023

Lee, Abraham P ^[1]; Pocha, Michael D ^[2]; McConaghy, Charles F ^[2]; Deri, Robert J ^[3]

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1. Walnut Creek, CA
2. Livermore, CA
3. Pleasanton, CA

Micromachining of bulk silicon utilizing the parallel etching characteristics of bulk silicon and integrating the parallel etch planes of silicon with silicon wafer bonding and impurity doping, enables the fabrication of on-chip optics with in situ aligned etched grooves for optical fibers, micro-lenses, photodiodes, and laser diodes. Other optical components that can be microfabricated and integrated include semi-transparent beam splitters, micro-optical scanners, pinholes, optical gratings, micro-optical filters, etc. Micromachining of bulk silicon utilizing the parallel etching characteristics thereof can be utilized to develop miniaturization of bio-instrumentation such as wavelength monitoring by fluorescence spectrometers, and other miniaturized optical systems such as Fabry-Perot interferometry for filtering of wavelengths, tunable cavity lasers, micro-holography modules, and wavelength splitters for optical communication systems.

• Research Organization: Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), Livermore, CA
• DOE Contract Number: W-7405-ENG-48
• Assignee: Regents of University of California (Oakland, CA)
• Patent Number(s): US 6071426
• OSTI ID: 873023
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

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aligned
beam
beam splitter
beam splitters
benchtop
bio-instrumentation
bonding
bulk
bulk silicon
cavity
characteristics
communication
communication systems
components
diodes
doping
enables
etc
etch
etched
etching
fabrication
fabry-perot
fabry-perot interferometry
fibers
filtering
filters
fluorescence
gratings
grooves
impurity
integrated
integrating
interferometry
laser
laser diode
laser diodes
lasers
micro
micro-holography
micro-lenses
micro-optical
microfabricated
micromachining
miniaturization
miniaturized
modules
monitoring
on-chip
optical
optical communication
optical component
optical components
optical fiber
optical fibers
optical filter
optical filters
optical grating
optical scanner
optical systems
optics
parallel
parallel etch
photodiodes
pinholes
planes
scanners
semi-transparent
silicon
silicon micromachining
silicon wafer
situ
spectrometers
splitters
systems
tunable
utilized
utilizing
wafer
wavelength
wavelengths