Silicon optical bench OCT probe for medical imaging

摘要

An optical probe for emitting and/or receiving light within a body comprises an optical fiber that transmits and/or receives an optical signal, a silicon optical bench including a fiber groove running longitudinally that holds an optical fiber termination of the optical fiber and a reflecting surface that optically couples an endface of the optical fiber termination to a lateral side of the optical bench. The fiber groove is fabricated using silicon anisotropic etching techniques. Some examples use a housing around the optical bench that is fabricated using LIGA or other electroforming technology. A method for forming lens structure is also described that comprises forming a refractive lens in a first layer of a composite wafer material, such as SOI (silicon on insulator) wafers and forming an optical port through a backside of the composite wafer material along an optical axis of the refractive lens. The refractive lens is preferably formed using grey-scale lithography and dry etching the first layer.

主权项

1. A method for forming an optical probe for emitting and/or receiving light, the method comprising:
anisotropically etching wafer material to form grooves for holding optical fibers; singulating optical benches including the grooves from the wafer material; and inserting the optical benches into separate housings that each have an optical port through which optical fibers are optically coupled to a region lateral to the probes.