Abstract: A method of fabricating a waveguide mirror that involves etching a trench in a silicon substrate; depositing a film (e.g. silicon dioxide) over the surface of the silicon substrate and into the trench; ion etching the film to remove at least some of the deposited silicon dioxide and to leave a facet of film in inside corners of the trench; depositing a layer of SiGe over the substrate to fill up the trench; and planarizing the deposited SiGe to remove the SiGe from above the level of the trench.

Abstract: A method of fabricating a detector, the method including forming an island of detector core material on a substrate, the island having a horizontally oriented top end, a vertically oriented first sidewall, and a vertically oriented second sidewall that is opposite said first sidewall; implanting a first dopant into the first sidewall to form a first conductive region that has a top end that is part of the top end of the island; implanting a second dopant into the second sidewall to form a second conductive region that has a top end that is part of the top end of the island; fabricating a first electrical connection to the top end of the first conductive region; and fabricating a second electrical connection to the top end of the second conductive region.

Abstract: An optical detector including a substrate; an island of detector material formed on the substrate, the island being a stack extending up from the substrate of alternating layers of first and second semiconductor materials, the island having a horizontally oriented top end, a vertically oriented first sidewall, and vertically oriented second sidewall that is opposite the first sidewall, the island having a first doped region extending into the island through first sidewall and forming a first conductive region that extends down into the island of detector material, the island also having a second doped region extending into the island through the second sidewall and forming a second conductive region that extends down into island of the detector material, the first and second conductive regions each having a top end that is part of the top end of the island; a first electrical connection to the top end of the first conductive region; and a second electrical connection to the top end of the second conductive re

Abstract: A method including determining a first flare convolution based on a feature density of projected structures on a substrate layout, determining a second flare convolution based on a mask for a given substrate layout, determining a system flare variation by summing the first flare convolution and the second flare convolution, and determining a critical dimension variation based on the system flare variation.

Abstract: A method of fabricating a waveguide mirror that involves etching a trench in a silicon substrate; depositing a film (e.g. silicon dioxide) over the surface of the silicon substrate and into the trench; ion etching the film to remove at least some of the deposited silicon dioxide and to leave a facet of film in inside corners of the trench; depositing a layer of SiGe over the substrate to fill up the trench; and planarizing the deposited SiGe to remove the SiGe from above the level of the trench.

Abstract: A method of fabricating on optical detector, the method including providing a substrate that includes an optical waveguide formed therein and having a surface for fabricating microelectronic circuitry thereon; fabricating microelectronic circuitry on the substrate, the fabricating involving a plurality of sequential process phases; after a selected one of the plurality of sequential process phases has occurred and before the next process phase after the selected one of the plurality of process phases begins, fabricating an optical detector within the optical waveguide; and after fabricating the optical detector in the waveguide, completing the plurality of sequential process phases for fabricating the microelectronic circuitry.

Abstract: A method of fabricating a detector that involves: forming a trench in a substrate, the substrate having an upper surface; forming a first doped semiconductor layer on the substrate and in the trench; forming a second semiconductor layer on the first doped semiconductor layer and extending into the trench, the second semiconductor layer having a conductivity that is less than the conductivity of the first doped semiconductor layer; forming a third doped semiconductor layer on the second semiconductor layer and extending into the trench; removing portions of the first, second and third layers that are above a plane defined by the surface of the substrate to produce an upper, substantially planar surface and expose an upper end of the first doped semiconductor layer in the trench; forming a first electrical contact to the first semiconductor doped layer; and forming a second electrical contact to the third semiconductor doped layer.

Abstract: An optical circuit including a semiconductor substrate; an optical waveguide formed in or on the substrate; and an optical detector formed in or on the semiconductor substrate, wherein the optical detector is aligned with the optical waveguide so as to receive an optical signal from the optical waveguide during operation, and wherein the optical detector has: a first electrode; a second electrode; and an intermediate layer between the first and second electrodes, the intermediate layer being made of a semiconductor material characterized by a conduction band, a valence band, and deep level energy states introduced between the conduction and valence bands.

Abstract: Substantially sharp corners for optical waveguides in integrated optical devices, photonic crystal devices, or for micro-devices, can be fabricated. Non-sharp corners such as rounded corners, are first formed using lithographic patterning and vertical etching. Next, isotropic etching is used to sharpen the rounded corners. A monitor can be used to determine if the rounded corners have been sufficiently sharpened by the isotropic etching.

Abstract: Substantially sharp corners for optical waveguides in integrated optical devices, photonic crystal devices, or for micro-devices, can be fabricated. Non-sharp corners such as rounded corners, are first formed using lithographic patterning and vertical etching. Next, isotropic etching is used to sharpen the rounded corners. A monitor can be used to determine if the rounded corners have been sufficiently sharpened by the isotropic etching.

Abstract: A method including determining a first flare convolution based on a feature density of projected structures on a substrate layout, determining a second flare convolution based on a mask for a given substrate layout, determining a system flare variation by summing the first flare convolution and the second flare convolution, and determining a critical dimension variation based on the system flare variation.

Abstract: A method including determining a first flare convolution based on a feature density of projected structures on a substrate layout, determining a second flare convolution based on a mask for a given substrate layout, determining a system flare variation by summing the first flare convolution and the second flare convolution, and determining a critical dimension variation based on the system flare variation.

Abstract: A method including determining a first flare convolution based on a feature density of projected structures on a substrate layout, determining a second flare convolution based on a mask for a given substrate layout, determining a system flare variation by summing the first flare convolution and the second flare convolution, and determining a critical dimension variation based on the system flare variation.

Abstract: Substantially sharp corners for optical waveguides in integrated optical devices, photonic crystal devices, or for micro-devices, can be fabricated. Non-sharp corners such as rounded corners, are first formed using lithographic patterning and vertical etching. Next, isotropic etching is used to sharpen the rounded corners. A monitor can be used to determine if the rounded corners have been sufficiently sharpened by the isotropic etching.

Abstract: Substantially sharp corners for optical waveguides in integrated optical devices, photonic crystal devices, or for micro-devices, can be fabricated. Non-sharp corners such as rounded corners, are first formed using lithographic patterning and vertical etching. Next, isotropic etching is used to sharpen the rounded corners. A monitor can be used to determine if the rounded corners have been sufficiently sharpened by the isotropic etching.

Abstract: A technique for fabricating a phase shift mask with multiple phase shifts by using self-aligned spacers to form phase shifting regions on a surface of a mask substrate. Three phase shifting regions are formed corresponding to 180.degree./120.degree./60.degree. phase shifts or delays on the surface of mask substrate. The three phase shifting regions are fabricated from three different dielectric materials, each having a different refractive indices. The first phase shifting region is formed by a photolithography technique, but the other two phase shifting regions are formed by the formation of self-aligned spacers. In an alternative technique, all three of the phase shifting regions are formed by the use of self-aligned spacers.

Abstract: A method for simulating changes to the topography of a workpiece, e.g. a semiconductor wafer, as it undergoes process steps. The method may be used to simulated isotropic or anisotropic deposition or etch process steps. A solids modeling system is used to define and deform material solids. Material solids represent the different materials on a workpiece. A plurality of trajectory solids are constructed to cause the deformation of the material solids. Deformation of a material solid is accomplished through the performance of boolean operations between the material solid and one or more trajectory solids. A characteristic of a trajectory solid, e.g. a radius or height, relates to the rate of etch or deposition for the particular process step. The method of construction of trajectory solids in the present invention enables simulation of spatially varying process steps, avoids the creation of invalid self-intersecting surfaces and minimizes the creation of small edges that lead to irregular surfaces.

Abstract: A method for deforming a solid and avoiding the creation of self-intersecting solid structures in a topography simulator. In a topography simulated based on a solids modeling system, self-intersecting structures are solids which have boundaries that intersect. Such self-intersecting structures are invalid and cannot be processed. A general method for sweeping a solid surface to create a deformed solid and avoid the creation of self-intersecting solid structures is described, which include the steps of: providing a material solid with a surface represented as one or more segments; constructing a first segment solid for a first segment; performing a boolean set operation between the solid being swept and the first segment solid creating a temporary first solid; identifying a second segment; constructing a second segment solid for the second segment; and performing the boolean set operation between said temporary first solid and said first segment solid creating said deformed first solid.

Abstract: A topography simulator using a "Generalized Solid Modeling (GSM) method" to simulate isotropic or anisotropic deposition and etch process steps on a workpiece. A solids modeling system that utilizes a boundary representation model for representing material object solids provides a basis for the topography simulator. A workpiece in the model is comprised of a collection of material solids. The present invention provides for accurately representing the interfaces of different material solids. The airspace above the top surface material is defined as an air solid. Boolean set operations between the various material solids and the air solid are performed to deform the wafer topography. The present invention further provides means for simulating an etch process step at the interface of materials with different etch rates.

Abstract: A method for efficient calculation of the movement of a vertex in a three-dimensional topography simulator. The method is particularly well suited for calculating vertex movement for cases in which an etch/deposition rate depends on the angle between the surface normal and the vertical direction. A workpiece is represented as a collection of material solids. Each of the material solids has a boundary model representation, which include vertices, edges and faces. The method of the present invention generally includes the steps of: identifying a first plane, a second plane and a third plane that approximate all the planes that are adjacent to a vertex point to be moved; determining a first observation vector; creating a set of advanced virtual planes; identifying a second observation vector; determining the furthest intersection point of one of the planes in the set of advanced planes and the second observation vector; and moving the vertex to the point identified in the prior step.