Granted Patent B1

US 7,262,852 · App. 11/273,753 · Granted Aug 28, 2007

Abstract

Claims (73)

1. A method, comprising:

directing a probe beam from an optical probe located above a surface of a wafer to the surface of the wafer;

using an optical alignment structure on the wafer to direct a portion of the probe beam along a direction above the wafer;

using the portion of the probe beam from the optical alignment structure as a guide to adjust a position of the optical probe relative to the optical alignment structure;

using a combination of a reflective dot and a reflective line adjacent to the dot as the optical alignment structure; and

using light from the reflective line as a guide to adjust the optical probe relative to the wafer to a location near the dot where light from the dot can be detected.

2. The method as in claim 1 , further comprising: after the light from the dot is detected, scanning a position of the optical probe relative to the dot to find the location where the light from the dot is maximized.

3. The method as in claim 2 , further comprising scanning the optical probe in a circular path to place the dot at the center of the circular path according to the light from the dot received by the optical probe.

4. A method, comprising:

directing a probe beam from an optical probe located above a surface of a wafer to the surface of the wafer, wherein the optical probe comprises a fiber array having a plurality of fibers;

using an optical alignment structure on the wafer to direct a portion of the probe beam along a direction above the wafer;

using the portion of the probe beam from the optical alignment structure as a guide to adjust a position of the optical probe relative to the optical alignment structure;

using one fiber in the fiber array to direct the probe beam to the wafer; and

using an output from the wafer produced in response to the probe beam to align other fibers in the fiber array to respective optical components on the wafer.

5. The method as in claim 4 , wherein the output is an optical signal originated from the probe beam, the method further comprising using the one fiber for directing the probe beam to receive the output.

6. The method as in claim 4 , wherein the output includes an electrical signal caused by the probe beam.

7. The method as in claim 4 , further comprising using at least one single mode fiber as one of the fibers in the fiber array.

8. The method as in claim 4 , further comprising using at least one multi-mode fiber as one of the fibers in the fiber array.

9. The method as in claim 4 , further comprising using at least one polarization maintaining fiber as one of the fibers in the fiber array.

10. A method, comprising:

directing a probe beam from an optical probe located above a surface of a wafer to the surface of the wafer, wherein the optical probe comprises a fiber array of fibers;

using an optical alignment structure on the wafer to direct a portion of the probe beam along a direction above the wafer;

using the portion of the probe beam from the optical alignment structure as a guide to adjust a position of the optical probe relative to the optical alignment structure;

using a known spatial relationship between a position of each component on the wafer relative to the optical alignment structure to align the optical probe with at least one optical component on the wafer;

using the probe beam from the optical probe to optically test the optical component;

using one fiber in the fiber array to deliver the probe beam to the wafer; and

using the one fiber to receive the portion of the probe beam from the optical alignment structure.

11. A method, comprising:

directing a probe beam from an optical probe located above a surface of a wafer to the surface of the wafer, wherein the optical probe comprises a fiber array of fibers;

using an optical alignment structure on the wafer to direct a portion of the probe beam along a direction above the wafer;

using the portion of the probe beam from the optical alignment structure as a guide to adjust a position of the optical probe relative to the optical alignment structure;

using a known spatial relationship between a position of each component on the wafer relative to the optical alignment structure to align the optical probe with at least one optical component on the wafer;

using the probe beam from the optical probe to optically test the optical component; and

using at least two fibers in the fiber array to deliver two different probe beams to two optical components the wafer to optically test the two optical components.

12. A method, comprising:

directing a probe beam from an optical probe located above a surface of a wafer to the surface of the wafer, wherein the optical probe includes at least one fiber;

using an optical alignment structure on the wafer to direct a portion of the probe beam along a direction above the wafer;

using the portion of the probe beam from the optical alignment structure as a guide to adjust a position of the optical probe relative to the optical alignment structure;

using a known spatial relationship between a position of an optical port on the wafer relative to the optical alignment structure to align the fiber with the optical port;

bringing the fiber in contact with the optical port; and

applying an adhesive to bond the fiber to the optical port.

13. A method, comprising:

directing a probe beam from an optical probe located above a surface of a wafer to the surface of the wafer, the optical probe includes an array of fibers corresponding to an array of optical ports on the wafer;

using an optical alignment structure on the wafer to direct a portion of the probe beam along a direction above the wafer;

using the portion of the probe beam from the optical alignment structure as a guide to adjust a position of the optical probe relative to the optical alignment structure;

aligning the fibers to the optical ports, respectively;

bringing the fibers in contact with the optical ports, respectively; and

applying an adhesive to bond each fiber to a corresponding optical port.

14. A method, comprising:

positioning an optical probe head comprising an array of optical waveguides above a wafer;

using at least one optical waveguide in the array to direct a probe beam to the wafer which directs at least a portion of the probe beam back to the array;

using one of the optical waveguides in the array to receive the portion of the probe beam; and

using received light in the one of the optical waveguides as at least one of (1) a guide to adjust a position of the optical probe head relative to a position on the wafer to align different optical waveguides to different predetermined positions on the wafer and (2) a monitor signal to test an optical component on the wafer, wherein the one of the optical waveguides is the same as the optical waveguide to direct the probe beam to the wafer.

15. A method, comprising:

positioning an optical probe head comprising an array of optical waveguides above a wafer;

using at least one optical waveguide in the array to direct a probe beam to the wafer which directs at least a portion of the probe beam back to the array;

using one of the optical waveguides in the array to receive the portion of the probe beam;

using received light in the one of the optical waveguides as at least one of (1) a guide to adjust a position of the optical probe head relative to a position on the wafer to align different optical waveguides to different predetermined positions on the wafer and (2) a monitor signal to test an optical component on the wafer; and

using at least two optical waveguides to direct two probe beams to two different optical ports on the wafer to test two components that are connected to the optical ports to receive the two probe beams, respectively.

16. A method, comprising:

positioning an optical probe head comprising an array of optical waveguides above a wafer;

using at least one optical waveguide in the array to direct a probe beam to the wafer which directs at least a portion of the probe beam back to the array;

using one of the optical waveguides in the array to receive the portion of the probe beam;

using received light in the one of the optical waveguides as at least one of (1) a guide to adjust a position of the optical probe head relative to a position on the wafer to align different optical waveguides to different predetermined positions on the wafer and (2) a monitor signal to test an optical component on the wafer; and

at least two optical waveguides to receive two output optical beams from two different optical ports on the wafer to test components associated with the two optical ports, respectively.

17. A method, comprising:

positioning an optical probe head comprising an array of optical waveguides above a wafer;

using at least one optical waveguide in the array to direct a probe beam to the wafer which directs at least a portion of the probe beam back to the array;

using one of the optical waveguides in the array to receive the portion of the probe beam;

using received light in the one of the optical waveguides as at least one of (1) a guide to adjust a position of the optical probe head relative to a position on the wafer to align different optical waveguides to different predetermined positions on the wafer and (2) a monitor signal to test an optical component on the wafer;

aligning the fibers to optical ports on the wafer, respectively, based on at least the received light; and

bringing end facets of the fibers to be in contact with the optical ports, respectively; and

applying an adhesive at an interface between an end facet of each fiber and a corresponding optical port to bond the fiber to the optical port.

Assignments (6)