| US 7,553,215 B2 | ||
| Process of forming a deflection mirror in a light waveguide | ||
| Hiroyuki Yagyu, Hirakata (Japan); Tooru Nakashiba, Osaka (Japan); and Shinji Hashimoto, Kadoma (Japan) | ||
| Assigned to Panasonic Electric Works Co, Ltd., Osaka (Japan) | ||
| Filed on Aug. 24, 2007, as Appl. No. 11/892,576. | ||
| Prior Publication US 2009/0049964 A1, Feb. 26, 2009 | ||
| Int. Cl. B24B 1/00 (2006.01) | ||
| U.S. Cl. 451—41 [451/54; 125/12; 430/321; 430/323; 385/14; 438/31; 438/69] | 3 Claims |

| 1. A process of forming deflection mirrors in a plurality of light waveguides, said process comprising the steps of:
advancing a dicing blade across said plurality of light waveguides while lowering said dicing blade to a predetermined first
level of an initial depth at least at a plurality of points where said light waveguides meet so as to make a preliminary cut
in each of said light waveguides to form a preliminary groove having an initial depth,
releasing said dicing blade away from said light waveguides,
measuring an open-end width of the preliminary groove at each of said points to (1) calculate the initial depth of said preliminary
groove based upon said open-end width and a geometrical configuration of the dicing blade, and (2) calculate a target level
for each of said points in terms of said predetermined first level, said initial depth of the preliminary groove, and a final
depth of a groove, said target level being defined as a distance from said first level minus a difference between the initial
depth of said preliminary groove and said final depth of said groove; and
advancing said dicing blade along a straight path across said plurality of light waveguides while lowering said dicing blade
to said target level at each of said points to cut said groove having said final depth and a slanted surface to define said
deflection mirrors,
wherein the initial depth of the preliminary groove is less than the final depth of the groove,
wherein said plurality of light waveguides are arranged in a horizontal plane and spaced in a parallel relation with each
other,
wherein said dicing blade has a cutting end with a flat top cutting face and at least one slanted side cutting face,
wherein said final depth is not greater than a width of said flat top cutting face, and
wherein said slanted surface of said groove is formed by said slanted side cutting face of said dicing blade.
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