Gray scale fabrication method using a spin-on glass material and integrated optical designs produced therefrom
US7067240B2 · kind B2 · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | May 14, 2003 |
| Grant date | Jun 27, 2006 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Aug 15, 2023 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC H)Electricity
- CPC primaryH01S5/4068
- WIPO fieldOptics
- WIPO sectorInstruments
Abstract
The subject invention relates to the fabrication of micro-optical structures in a glass-like transparent material using conventional photolithography processing steps. The glass-like material is a spin-on glass (SOG) material, which behaves like a negative-tone photoresist, and has high quality optical properties similar to those of glass. The present invention can take advantage of gray scale photomasks to illuminate the uncured spin-on material with various illumination intensities, thus resulting in variations in resultant film thickness of the SOG material after the chemical development step. This results in micro-optical structures that can be fabricated with the desired shapes, depending on the transmission characteristics of each region of the gray scale photomask.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.