Stmicroelectronics S.r.l.

Italtel S.p.a.

Maurizio Lenzi

Ubaldo Mastromatteo

Antonio Fincato

Francesco Martini

Daniela Barge

Domenico Di Mola

A process for manufacturing an integrated device includes the steps of: providing a silicon substrate on which a silicon dioxide structure is arranged and forming a trench having first and second essentially vertical walls relative to the substrate in the structure by means of anisotropic-type etching. A concavity having a sloped wall relative to the substrate is formed by isotropic-type etching which removes the second wall so that the concavity is open to the trench and the sloped wall faces the first wall.

Integrated device manufacturing process

The described integrated planar optical structure comprises a principal waveguide having a core and a cladding that define a first light path ad means sensitive to the light radiated into the cladding comprising at least one secondary waveguide having a core and a cladding that define a second light path. The secondary waveguide has an entry situated in the cladding of the principal waveguide at such a distance from the core of the latter as not to interfere with the propagation of the light along the first optical path and a core section that becomes greater in a first part from the entry onwards to collect the light energy radiated into the cladding. Also described are a system for monitoring the light energy emitted by a source and an optical attenuator that comprise the aforesaid optical structure.

Integrated optical structure sensitive to the energy radiated into the cladding of a planar lightwave circuit

Tunable add/drop optical device for injecting or extracting (add/drop) at least a selected optical channel or carrier wavelength in or from a set of multiplexed channels or carriers of different wavelengths comprising a plurality of directional couplers (AD,. . . AD,) and a plurality of phase-shift stages (SF,. . . SF,) alternately connected in cascade, wherein each phase-shift stage defines a certain optical path length difference (&Dgr;L,. . . &Dgr;L,) between two distinct optical paths of the stage. The tuning is performed modifying the refraction index of one path of said phase shift stages by means of Joule effect heating strips (L,. . . L,) or by means of metallic field plates adapted to receive a signal suitable to modify the electric field intensity. The first two phase-shift stages of said plurality of phase-shift stages have differences of length of optical paths different from each other and in a preestablished ratio while the remaining phase-shift stages have differences of length of optical paths identical. It is thus possible to provide a device having an exceptionally flat cross response characteristic, substantially free of ripple due to an inevitable truncation of the Fourier expansion series.

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Novara, Italy

Maurizio Lenzi