Characterization of PECVD oxynitride optical waveguides

Author

Zhang, Ailing ; Chan, Kam Tai

Author_Institution

Dept. of Electron. Eng., Chinese Univ. of Hong Kong, China

Volume

2

fYear

2003

fDate

15-19 Dec. 2003

Abstract

Silicon oxynitride films with varying oxygen/nitrogen ratios have been grown by PECVD using SiH₄, N₂O, N₂ and NH₃ gases. The refractive index of the film can be smoothly varied by changing the SiH₄/N₂O flow ratio. Rectangular optical channel waveguides are successfully fabricated by growing a sandwich oxynitride structure together with dry etching. The waveguide propagation loss has been characterized and annealing is shown to be an effective means to reduce the loss significantly. A broader waveguide will also have much smaller loss than a narrow waveguide.

Keywords

annealing; etching; optical fabrication; optical films; optical losses; optical materials; optical waveguides; plasma CVD; rectangular waveguides; refractive index; silicon compounds; ₂ gases; N₂O gases; NH₃ gases; PECVD oxynitride optical waveguides; SiH₄ gases; SiH₄/N₂O flow ratio; SiON; annealing; dry etching; narrow waveguide; oxygen/nitrogen ratios; rectangular optical channel waveguides; refractive index; sandwich oxynitride structure; silicon oxynitride films; waveguide propagation loss; Gases; Nitrogen; Optical films; Optical losses; Optical refraction; Optical variables control; Optical waveguides; Propagation losses; Semiconductor films; Silicon;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Lasers and Electro-Optics, 2003. CLEO/Pacific Rim 2003. The 5th Pacific Rim Conference on

Print_ISBN

0-7803-7766-4

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/CLEOPR.2003.1277105

Filename

1277105