Method for manufacturing sharp waveguide branches in integrated optical circuits

摘要

For the manufacture of a Y-shaped branching-off channel-shaped waveguide pattern (1.1) having a sharp vertex (V) on or in a substrate (1), there is first realised, in two different etching steps in an auxiliary-mask layer (2), an auxiliary-mask pattern with the help of mask patterns (6 and 7) partly overlapping one another, preferably of photosensitive mask material. The auxiliary-mask pattern is transferred, in a third etching step, to the substrate. The overlapping mask patterns each define at least a portion of the Y-shaped pattern. In a preferred embodiment, the mask patterns have identical subpatterns which define a Y-shaped pattern, and which overlap one another in mutually displaced positions.