Patent ID: 6944386

Claim:
A wafer of material having formed thereon a plurality of optically active devices arranged in a row in a longitudinal direction with respect to one another, the wafer having a normal useable diameter, the optically active devices each comprising: an optically active region having an input end and an opposed output end which is longitudinally spaced from the input end; a first optically passive region longitudinally extending from the input end of the optically active region to an input end of the device; and a second optically passive region longitudinally extending from the output end of the optically active region to an output end of the device; the first and second optically passive regions of each successive pair of longitudinally aligned and adjacent devices forming a single extended optically passive region through which the devices may be cleaved from one another along a preselected cleavage plane, an overall length of the extended optically passive region being sufficient that errors in orthogonal alignment of the cleavage plane relative to the longitudinal axis of the devices of up to plus or minus 0.5 degrees always result in the cleave falling within the extended optically passive region over the normal useable diameter of the wafer.