The feasibility of room-temperature (RT) bonding of vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser (VCSEL) chips on silicon (Si) substrates with Au microbumps was demonstrated by Au–Au surface-activated bonding. The diameter at the top, the height, and the pitch of Au microbumps measured approximately 5, 2, and 10 µm, respectively. Following activation of the Au surfaces with argon radio-frequency plasma, Au–Au bonding was carried out using contact at RT in ambient air. The measured results of light–current–voltage (L–I–V) characteristics indicated no significant degradation of the VCSEL chips after bonding.

This paper demonstrates the application of ultra-precision cutting to the fabrication of ridged LiNbO₃ waveguides for use in low-loss photonic integrated circuits. Ridged waveguides with sidewall verticality of 88° and ultra-smooth sidewalls were obtained in LiNbO₃ crystals using this technique. In addition, the possibility of fabricating bent ridged waveguides via this mechanical micromachining method was examined. The root mean square surface roughness of the machined sidewall was 4.5 nm over an area of 2.5 × 10 µm, which is sufficiently low so as to minimize scattering losses of guided light. The propagation loss of the ridged waveguide produced during this work was well below 1 dB/cm at a wavelength of 1550 nm. The present technique should have significant applicability to the micromachining of ferroelectric materials and the fabrication of highly confined optical waveguides such as ridged waveguides and photonic wires.

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In this paper, we report room-temperature bonding of LiNbO3 (LN) and SiO2/Si for the realization of a LN on insulator (LNOI)/Si hybrid wafer. We investigate the applicability of a modified surface activated bonding (SAB) method for the direct bonding of LN and a thermally grown SiO2 layer. The modified SAB method using ion beam bombardment demonstrates the room-temperature wafer bonding of LN and SiO2. The bonded wafer was successfully cut into 0.5 × 0.5 mm2 dies without interfacial debonding owing to the applied stress during dicing. In addition, the surface energy of the bonded wafer was estimated to be approximately 1.8 J/m2 using the crack opening method. These results indicate that a strong bond strength can be achieved, which may be sufficient for device applications.

We newly introduce a compliant rim to realize hermetic sealing of electronic components at low temperature. The compliant rim easily deforms under pressing load owing to its cone-shaped cross section and, therefore, intermetallic bonding can be performed at low temperature. We demonstrate the room-temperature vacuum sealing using the compliant rim made of Au with the aid of ultrasonic vibration of submicron amplitude. A test vehicle fabricated using silicon and glass showed that the air leak rate of the room-temperature sealing was well below 1 × 10−12 Pa·m3/s, which is sufficiently low for use in vacuum packaging.