Patent ID: 8506829

Claim:
A method of manufacturing a semiconductor hollow-core waveguide using any of high-contrast gratings and photonic crystal cladding, said method comprising: providing a layered semiconductor structure comprising: a substrate; a sacrificial layer over said substrate; and a plurality of semiconductor-based layers over said sacrificial layer; creating an etching mask pattern over said plurality of semiconductor-based layers; performing a combined cycled directional etching process on said layered semiconductor structure to create a series of deep trenches that define gratings for a cladding of said waveguide; removing a portion of said semiconductor based-layers located in the center of said waveguide to create a hollow air core in said layered semiconductor structure to define a shape of said waveguide; and removing said sacrificial layer under said waveguide, wherein a top layer of said layered semiconductor structure comprises a thickness equal to a total height of said waveguide, and wherein said sacrificial layer comprises a thickness greater than half of a wavelength of an operating wave of said waveguide.