Optical and surface properties of hybrid TiO2/ormosil planar waveguide prepared by the sol–gel process

Two kinds of silanes, 3-glycidoxypropyltrimethoxysilane (GLYMO) and 3-trimethoxysililpropylmethacrylate (TMSPM), were used to prepare ormosil waveguide films by the sol–gel method. Thirty percent Ti(OBu)4 and 70% silane were contained in the precursor sols. The properties of films were measured by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), UV/VIS/NIR spectrophotometer (UV–vis), atomic force microscopy (AFM), m-line and scattering-detection method. The films from GLYMO and TMSPM precursors exhibit similar thickness (2.58 μm for GLYMO, 2.51 μm for TMSPM) and refractive index (1.5438 for GLYMO, 1.5392 for TMSPM, λ = 632.8 nm), but the film from TMSPM precursor has higher propagation loss (1.024 dB/cm, λ = 632.8 nm) than the film prepared from GLYMO (0.569 dB/cm, λ = 632.8 nm). Furthermore, the film prepared from TMSPM is easy to be opaque and cracks during coating whereas the same phenomenon was not found for the film prepared with GLYMO. It is confirmed that GLYMO is a better precursor than TMSPM for waveguide film preparation.