Glass wafer direct bonding: a new technology for monomode optical integrated devices

We propose a new fabrication method for monomode optical integrated devices. As an example, we show how a deeply buried planar waveguide can be obtained by assembling two half waveguides. These ones are realized by ion exchange and the assembling method is the wafer direct bonding (WDB). The optical properties are studied and compared with theory. The results prove that direct bonding, as in VLSI batch technology, is a low cost and high performance technology for optical devices fabrication.