Patent ID: 7177489

Claim:
A method of making a silicon based thin-film structure for an optical modulator, the method comprising the steps of: providing a substrate comprising at least a first silicon layer having a carrier mobility of at least 200 centimeters 2 /volt-second at room temperature; providing a thin-film dielectric layer having a predetermined thickness on at least a portion of the first silicon layer of the substrate; providing a second silicon layer on at least a portion of the thin-film dielectric and overlying at least a portion of the first silicon layer to make an overlapped structure; and creating a waveguide within the overlapped structure comprising at least a partially crystalline device portion of the second silicon layer with at least a device portion of the first silicon layer and at least a portion of the thin-film dielectric layer so that when a voltage is applied across the waveguide, a phase shift can be produced to light energy propagating within the waveguide.