Method of making a mark on a wafer such as a semiconductor wafer incorporating a buried structure

摘要

For end-to-end alignment of two optical waveguides one of which is in the form of a strip buried in a semiconductor wafer, a longitudinal lateral mark is used constituted by the flank of a valley etched in the wafer and self-aligned to the strip formed beforehand. To achieve this self-alignment a protection layer is deposited in the area in which the mark is to be formed, a register layer is deposited on top of the protection layer and a photosensitive resin is deposited on top of these layers and the substrate. First selective etching eliminates the register layer at the location of the valley of the mark. Second and third selective etching respectively etch the lateral channels of the strip and then the valley of the mark.