Monolithic fabrication techniques for front face optoelectronic couplers and/or optical components including ridge structured waveguides

摘要

The invention involves a method for the monolithic fabrication of front face optoelectronic couplers and/or optical components (10) including a ridge structured waveguide (4) in which the light-coupling edges (2) of the component (10) using a mask in the desired structure are etched out of a wafer (1) of suitable material. With this method not only the light-coupling edges (2) of the component (10) but also the ridge waveguides (4) are readily fabricated in monolithic technology. To this end, the invention provides that the etched grooves (3) forming the light- coupling edges (2) with their side walls are covered with a first layer (5) of organic material which subsequently is removed outside the groove (3) so that the remaining residue at least nearly fills the etched groove (3), and that subsequently over the first a second layer (6) of organic material is applied which after appropriate treatment is used as etching mask for etching the predetermined ridge waveguide structure (4) out of the wafer (1). This method is particularly especially useful in the fabrication of MCRW (metal cladded ridge waveguide) lasers.