Use of chemical-mechanical polishing for fabricating photonic bandgap structures
First Claim
1. A method for fabricating a photonic bandgap structure, comprising steps for:
- (a) forming a first layer of spaced elements of the photonic bandgap structure; and
(b) planarizing the first layer of spaced elements by chemical-mechanical polishing.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A method is disclosed for fabricating a two- or three-dimensional photonic bandgap structure (also termed a photonic crystal, photonic lattice, or photonic dielectric structure). The method uses microelectronic integrated circuit (IC) processes to fabricate the photonic bandgap structure directly upon a silicon substrate. One or more layers of arrayed elements used to form the structure are deposited and patterned, with chemical-mechanical polishing being used to planarize each layer for uniformity and a precise vertical tolerancing of the layer. The use of chemical-mechanical planarization allows the photonic bandgap structure to be formed over a large area with a layer uniformity of about two-percent. Air-gap photonic bandgap structures can also be formed by removing a spacer material separating the arrayed elements by selective etching. The method is useful for fabricating photonic bandgap structures including Fabry-Perot resonators and optical filters for use at wavelengths in the range of about 0.2-20 μm.
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Citations
47 Claims
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1. A method for fabricating a photonic bandgap structure, comprising steps for:
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(a) forming a first layer of spaced elements of the photonic bandgap structure; and (b) planarizing the first layer of spaced elements by chemical-mechanical polishing. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8)
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9. A method for fabricating a photonic bandgap structure, comprising steps for:
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(a) forming a plurality of stacked layers of spaced elements of the photonic bandgap structure; and (b) planarizing each layer of spaced elements in the plurality of stacked layers by chemical-mechanical polishing after formation of that layer. - View Dependent Claims (10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29)
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30. A method for fabricating a photonic bandgap structure on a substrate, comprising steps for:
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(a) depositing a layer of a first material and patterning the layer to provide an array of shaped openings therein extending downward through the layer; (b) depositing a second material to overfill at least a majority of the shaped openings in the array; (c) planarizing the second material by chemical-mechanical polishing and thereby removing the second material at least down to the underlying first material; and (d) repeating the sequence of steps (a)-(c) a plurality of times to build up the photonic bandgap structure. - View Dependent Claims (31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47)
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Specification