On-chip assembly of silicon photonic band gap crystals

Summary form only given. Three-dimensional silicon photonic band gap crystals are obtained by combining planar self-assembly of colloidal spheres with standard silicon deposition techniques. This simple and inexpensive approach, which is compatible with conventional microelectronics fabrication, yields high refractive index inverted opals of controllable thickness that are integrated directly onto a silicon wafer. These photonic bandgap structures, which operate at telecommunications wavelengths, are planar single-crystals over large areas with very low defect densities.