Patent ID: 7113664

Claim:
A method for manufacturing an optical waveguide switch, comprising the steps of: forming a first optical waveguide layer having a core layer sealed by a lower clad layer and an upper clad layer comprising photoconductive resin material; forming a first electrode layer on an upper clad layer of said first optical waveguide layer with a photoconductive electrode material; forming a first electrically insulating layer on at least a portion of said first electrode layer; forming an intermediate layer of a predetermined thickness on predetermined portions of said upper clad layer of said first optical waveguide layer, said first electrode layer and said first electrically insulating layer, but leaving gap portions overlying said insulating layer and a portion of said first electrode layer; filling said gap portions with a fill-up material to form a fill-up material layer; forming a second electrode layer facing said first electrode layer with a photoconductive electrode material across said intermediate layer and said fill-up material layer; forming a second electrically insulating layer over a portion of said second electrode layer; forming a second optical waveguide layer facing said first optical waveguide layer and having a core layer sealed by a lower clad layer and an upper clad layer comprising a photoconductive resin material on said upper clad layer including said second electrode layer, said upper clad layer of said second optical waveguide facing said upper clad layer of said first optical waveguide; forming first and second openings that extend from said outside said switch to said fist and second electrode layers, respectively, and third openings that extend to said fill-up material layer; filling said first and second openings with a suitable conductive material; and forming a gap section between said first and second electrode layers by removing said fill-up material from said fill-up material layer; wherein, said first optical waveguide layer and said second optical waveguide layer face each other having an interlayer spacing not permitting a spontaneous occurrence of a proximity effect perturbation, and optical signal switching or translation in said optical waveguide switch takes place by moving said first and second optical waveguide layers to a position where a proximity effect perturbation arises, by means of an electrostatic force generated by application of a voltage between said first electrode layer and said second electrode layer.