OPTICAL WAVEGUIDE CIRCUIT AND MANUFACTURING METHOD THEREFOR

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a low power consumption, high-performance optical waveguide circuit which overcomes difficulty associated with characteristic compensation through temperature control and is capable of compensating for variations in characteristics including those caused by manufacturing error which is a big matter of concern for silicon waveguides.SOLUTION: An optical waveguide circuit 200 comprises a silicon (Si) substrate 202, a buried oxide film (BOX) layer 204 formed on the Si substrate, and an SOI (Silicon on Insulator) layer 206A, 206B formed on the BOX layer, the SOI layer including an optical element that uses the SOI layer as a main light transmission medium. At least a portion of a waveguide of the optical element contains thermally unstable crystal defects that are uniformly distributed.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 2 【課題】温度制御による特性補償の困難を回避し、シリコン導波路において特に留意される製造誤差による特性変動をも補償する低電力消費かつ高性能の光導波路回路を提供する。【解決手段】光導波路回路２００は、シリコン（Ｓｉ）基板２０２と、Ｓｉ基板上に形成された埋め込み酸化膜（ＢＯＸ）層２０４と、ＢＯＸ層上に形成されたＳＯＩ（Ｓｉｌｉｃｏｎ ｏｎ Ｉｎｓｕｌａｔｏｒ）層２０６Ａ、２０６Ｂであって、ＳＯＩ層を主たる光伝送媒体とする光素子を含む、ＳＯＩ層とを備える。光素子の導波路の少なくとも一部は、一様に分布した熱的に不安定な結晶欠陥を含有する。【選択図】図２