Abstract

This paper presents details of what we call glass-on-silicon integrated optics, some applications developed at LETI, and future evolutions. If we consider the aim of mass production, there are now two possible ways for optoelectronics circuits: (1) the monolithic approach (sources, guides and detectors) built on the same III–V semiconductor substrate); (2) the hybrid approach, in which sources, detectors (and fibers) are separately made and assembled around the integrated-optics component. The technology presented here is of great interest in (2), concurrently to ion exchange in glass substrate, with the following advantages: easy truncation of devices by cleaving, large thermal conductivity of silicon which make feasible a direct hybridization of the source, and the wide range of technology already demonstrated in industrial microelectronics, including micromachining of silicon.

© 1991 Optical Society of America