Crack propagation stops for dicing of planar lightwave circuit devices

One aspect of the present invention relates to a method of dicing a substrate containing a plurality of non-rectangular shaped optical integrated circuits, involving forming stop cracks in the wafer, each stop crack adjacent and substantially parallel one of the non-rectangular shaped optical integrated circuits, and cutting the substrate in a curvilinear manner substantially parallel to a stop crack. Another aspect of the present invention relates to an optical structure containing a substrate; a plurality of non-rectangular shaped optical integrated circuits on the substrate, each non-rectangular shaped optical integrated circuit having an active region; and at least one stop crack positioned adjacent each non-rectangular shaped optical integrated circuit.