Patent ID: 6315462
Filing Date: 2001-11-13
Classification: G02B

Abstract:
Procedure for the production of a fiber optic circuit switch having at least two light guides arranged within a plane and one movable optical switching device, comprisingproviding a sandwich wafer including a base substrate, an electrically insulating intermediate layer and a coating layer;masking the coating layer to selectively expose first partial areas that are to be movable after the manufacturing process, said first partial areas having a small first width, and partial control areas which are affixed to the base substrate, said partial control areas having a second width greater than said first width;etching the exposed areas of the masked coating layer in a first etching process down to the intermediate layer while forming nearly vertical etching walls in a dry etching procedure with a deep anisotropic reactive ion etching process; andapplying an etchant in a second etching process that attacks only the intermediate layer for a time sufficient to remove completely the intermediate layer beneath said first partial areas of the first width but not beneath said partial control areas of the second width.