Japan Aviation Electronics Industry, Limited

Emmanuel Bourelle

Akiko Suzuki

Akinobu Sato

Jiro Matsuo

Toshio Seki

Takaaki Aoki

A method of smoothing a solid surface with a gas cluster ion beam includes irradiating the solid surface with the gas cluster ion beam. The irradiating includes, when scratches which can be likened to a line-and-space pattern structure with widths and heights on the order of a submicrometer to micrometer are present on the solid surface, a process of emitting the gas cluster ion beam so as to expose substances, which remain on side-walls of the scratches due to lateral transferal caused by collisions with gas clusters, to other gas clusters, and the gas cluster ion beam diverges non-concentrically and/or non-uniformly.

Method of smoothing solid surface with gas cluster ion beam and solid surface smoothing apparatus

In a method of irradiating a gas cluster ion beam on a solid surface and smoothing the solid surface, the angle formed between the solid surface and the gas cluster ion beam is chosen to be between 1&#xb0; and an angle less than 30&#xb0;. In case the solid surface is relatively rough, the processing efficiency is raised by first irradiating a beam at an irradiation angle &#x3b8; chosen to be something like 90&#xb0; as a first step, and subsequently at an irradiation angle &#x3b8; chosen to be 1&#xb0; to less than 30&#xb0; as a second step. Alternatively, the set of the aforementioned first step and second step is repeated several times.

Method for smoothing a solid surface

Surface roughness having intervals of several tens of nanometers to about a hundred micrometers in a solid surface is reduced by directing a gas cluster ion beam to the surface. An angle formed between the normal to the solid surface and the gas cluster ion beam is referred to as an irradiation angle, and an irradiation angle at which the distance of interaction between the solid and the cluster colliding with the solid dramatically increases is referred to as a critical angle. A solid surface smoothing method includes an irradiation step of directing the gas cluster ion beam onto the solid surface at an irradiation angle not smaller than the critical angle. The critical angle is 70&#xb0;.

A solid surface is processed while corner portions of a relief structure are protected from deformation. A method of processing a solid surface with a gas cluster ion beam includes a cluster protection layer formation step of forming, on the solid surface, a relief structure having protrusions with a cluster protection layer formed to cover an upper part thereof and recesses without the cluster protection layer; an irradiation step of emitting a gas cluster ion beam onto the solid surface having the relief structure formed in the cluster protection layer formation step; and a removal step of removing the cluster protection layer. A thickness T of the cluster protection layer satisfies where n is a dose of the gas cluster ion beam, and Y is an etching efficiency of the cluster protection layer, expressed as an etching volume per cluster (a and b are constants).

Method of processing solid surface with gas cluster ion beam

A method for flattening a sample surface by irradiating the sample surface with a gas cluster ion beam, generates clusters of source gas in a cluster generating chamber, ionizes the generated clusters in an ionization chamber, accelerates the ionized cluster beam in an electric field of an accelerating electrode, selects a cluster size using a magnetic field of a sorting mechanism, and irradiates the surface of a sample. An irradiation angle between the sample surface and the gas cluster ion beam is less than 30&#xb0; and an average cluster size of the gas cluster ion beam is 50 or above.

Method and apparatus for flattening solid surface

In a dry etching method in which clusters formed by agglomeration of atoms or molecules are ionized and accelerated as a cluster ion beam for irradiation of an object surface to etch away therefrom its constituent atoms, the clusters are mixed clustersformed by agglomeration of two or more kinds of atoms or molecules, and the mixed clusterscontain atomsof at least one of argon, neon, xenon and krypton, and a componentthat is deposited on the object surface to form a thin film by reaction therewith. With this method, it is possible to provide an extremely reduced sidewall surface roughness and high vertical machining accuracy.

Dry etching method and photonic crystal device fabricated by use of the same

A direction-change element for changing the direction of travel of an incident electromagnetic wave and electromagnetic wave transmitting/receiving elements are disposed on a substrate. The direction-change element has a periodic array of materials of different refractive indexes arranged in parallel to the substrate surface. The electromagnetic wave transmitting/receiving elements are positioned at opposite ends of the periodic array in the direction of its arrangement. The output ratio between the two electromagnetic wave transmitting/receiving elements can be used to detect the incidence angle of the electromagnetic wave with high accuracy. By changing the relative intensity of electromagnetic waves to be sent from the two electromagnetic wave transmitting/receiving elements, it is possible to achieve high-accuracy control of the angle of emittance of the electromagnetic wave to be sent from the device. Accordingly, the present invention offers a small, low-profile electromagnetic wave transmitting/receiving device capable of detecting and radiating electromagnetic waves with high accuracy of their incidence and emittance angles.

Electromagnetic wave transmitting/receiving device

An optical connector used for inputting light to an optical element from an external optical system or outputting light from an optical element to an external optical system includes a photonic crystal having a periodic refractive index structure, and an optical waveguide to be optically coupled to the optical element and a region in which a plurality of defects are formed at intervals equal to or less than four times the refractive index period a of the photonic crystal are formed in the photonic crystal. The region has a size equal to or greater than the wavelength of the light input from the external optical system or the wavelength of the light output to the external optical system, and the external optical system and the optical waveguide are optically coupled to each other via the region. The optical connector has an improved optical coupling efficiency, can achieve optical coupling of a plurality of light components of different wavelengths, and can readily achieve alignment.

Optical connector, optical coupling method and optical element

An optical element includes: a conductive film having a through opening and a periodic uneven structure (grooves) formed in a surface thereof; and a photonic crystal. The grooves are formed around the through opening, the photonic crystal has an optical waveguide and a defect structure (point defect) optically coupled to the optical waveguide formed therein, the conductive film is disposed opposite to the photonic crystal, and the through opening is opposite to the point defect.

Optical element

Columnar pillars are arranged in a square lattice pattern to form a two-dimensional photonic crystal. The two-dimensional photonic crystal has crystal defects created by the absence of pillars, and a resonator is formed in a line waveguide provided by the crystal defects. The resonator is made up of a main pillar, a pair of sub-pillars disposed at the light incidence side of the waveguide with respect to the main pillar and another pair of sub-pillars at the light emitting side of the waveguide with respect to the main pillar, the main pillar and sub-pillars being disposed in the waveguide. The main pillar and the sub-pillars are formed of the same medium as that of the pillars, and are formed simultaneously with the pillars by patterning a silicon thin film coated all over a silicon substrate through a SiOfilm formed over the entire surface thereof. Light of a particular wavelength in wavelength-multiplexed incident light is transmitted through the resonator.

Growing community of inventors

Montmirail, France

Emmanuel Bourelle