OPTICAL WAVEGUIDE TYPE OPTICAL MODULATOR AND PRODUCTION METHOD THEREFOR

摘要

There is provided a high performance optical waveguide type optical modulator with excellent long term reliability, in which contamination of the buffer layer in a forming process of a signal field adjustment region on the buffer layer by a lift-off method or an etching method, is prevented and DC drift thus suppressed. The optical waveguide type optical modulator 10 comprises a substrate 11 having an electro-optic effect, optical waveguides 12 formed on the surface of this substrate 11, a traveling-wave type signal electrode 13a and ground electrodes 13b which are provided on the substrate 11 and control a lightwave, and a buffer layer 14 provided between the electrodes 13 and the optical waveguides 12, and furthermore, a dielectric layer 15 is provided on the entire surface of the buffer layer 14 on the side of the electrodes 13, and a signal field adjustment region 16 which has a wider width than that of the traveling-wave type signal electrode 13a and is made of a material with a higher refractive index than that of the dielectric layer 15 is formed between the dielectric layer 15 and the traveling-wave type signal electrode 13a.