Process for fabricating article comprising photonic band gap material

US6392787B1 · kind B1 · utility

Assignee

• Agere Systems Guardian Corporation · US

Inventors

• Raymond A. Cirelli · Fryeburg, US
• Omkaram Nalamasu · San Jose, US
• Sanjay Patel · Palo Alto, US
• Stanley Pau · Tucson, US
• George Patrick Watson · Harrison, US
• Christopher A. White · Neshanic Station, US
• Robert W. Zehner · Cambridge, US

Key dates

• Filing date: Sep 1, 2000
• Grant date: May 21, 2002
• Expiry date: Sep 1, 2020

Classification

• Technology area (CPC B): Performing Operations; Transporting
• CPC primary: B82Y20/00
• WIPO field: Micro-structural and nano-technology
• WIPO sector: Chemistry

Abstract

An improved lithographic process for fabricating articles comprising photonic band gap materials with micron-scale periodicities is provided, the process readily capable of being performed by current lithographic processes and equipment. The process involves providing a three-dimensional structure made up of a plurality of stacked layers, where each layer contains a substantially planar lattice of shapes of a first material, typically silicon, with interstices between the shapes. Each shape contacts at least one shape of an adjacent layer, the interstices throughout the plurality of layers are interconnected, and the interstices comprise a second material, e.g., silicon dioxide. Typically, the second material is etched from the interconnected interstices to provide a structure of the first material and air, this structure designed to provide a particular photonic band gap.