Porous waveguide sensors featuring high confinement factors and method for making the same
US11275031B2 · kind B2 · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | Sep 5, 2019 |
| Grant date | Mar 15, 2022 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Sep 5, 2039 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC G)Physics
- CPC primaryG02B2006/12138
- WIPO fieldMeasurement
- WIPO sectorInstruments
Abstract
Devices and methods of providing a high-performance optical sensor disclose a sensor comprised of a porous material designed to have a multilayer rib-type or multilayer pillar-type waveguide geometry. The resulting porous nanomaterial multilayer-rib or multilayer-pillar waveguide design is optically capable of achieving ˜100% confinement factor while maintaining small mode area and single-mode character. Fabrication of the device is enabled by an inverse processing technique, wherein silicon wafers are first patterned and etched through well-established techniques, which allows porous nanomaterial synthesis (i.e., porous silicon anodization) either at the wafer-scale or at the chip-scale after wafer dicing. While ˜100% is an optimal target, typical devices per presently disclosed subject matter may operate with ˜98-99+%, while allowing for some design adjustments to be made if necessary, and still maintaining high sensitivity. i.e., >85-90% confinement suitable in some applications. In those instances, a primary benefit would still be use of the presently disclosed fabrication technology.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.