Abstract

Dense Wave Guide Division Multiplexing (DWDM), the recent revolutionary technology in optical communication, promises 100-fold transmission rate increase for fiber-optical channels. In this paper we discuss optical Integrated Circuits on SiO2 based on Ge (SiON)/Si structures (SiOIC) the basic element of DVDM and spectral optical channel switch devices, details of SiOIC's manufacturing, e.g. thick-layer PECVD and deep-trench RIE technological processes, and micromechanical technique of the fiber-planar optical waveguide connection. Other important topics under consideration are passive DWDM SiOIC's, functional principles of the planar optical DWDM and the volume analog, the Array Waveguide Grating (AWG) as a synthesis of the Michelson's Echelon and the Phased Antenna Array (PHASAR), and spectral selective Add-Drop SiOIC; DWDM optical switches; Waveguide thermooptical modulator and Mach-Zehnder 2x2 switch element, Controlled Add-drop and wavelength selective switch circuits examples, challenge and prospect of optical switch on SiOIC's, fast optical switches on Silicon-on-Isolator (SOI) structures, and charge-controlled electrooptical modulators of plasma dispersion effect in Si-core waveguides.