Silicon profile transformation and sidewall roughness reduction using hydrogen annealing

Author

Lee, Ming-Chang M. ; Yao, Jin ; Wu, Ming C.

Author_Institution

Dept. of Electr. Eng., Univ. of California at Los Angeles, CA, USA

fYear

2005

fDate

30 Jan.-3 Feb. 2005

Firstpage

596

Lastpage

599

Abstract

We report on a comprehensive study of the 3D profile transformation process for microstructures on silicon-on-insulator (SOI) substrates. Using hydrogen annealing, single crystalline microspheres (1 μm radius), micropillars, and circular cantilever beams have been successfully demonstrated. The annealed Si exhibits a surface roughness of 0.26 nm. A theoretical model is presented for the mass transport process, and the parametric dependence on temperature and pressure is characterized. We have used this process to fabricate submicrometer single mode optical waveguides on SOI and achieved a very low optical loss of 0.2 cm^-1.

Keywords

annealing; crystal microstructure; hydrogen; mass transfer; nanotechnology; optical waveguides; silicon; silicon-on-insulator; surface roughness; 0.26 nm; 1 micron; 3D profile transformation; Si; circular cantilever beams; hydrogen annealing; mass transport process; micropillars; microstructures; optical loss; pressure parametric dependence; sidewall roughness reduction; silicon profile transformation; silicon-on-insulator substrates; single crystalline microspheres; submicrometer single mode optical waveguides; temperature parametric dependence; Annealing; Crystal microstructure; Crystallization; Hydrogen; Nonlinear optics; Optical surface waves; Optical waveguides; Rough surfaces; Silicon on insulator technology; Structural beams;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Micro Electro Mechanical Systems, 2005. MEMS 2005. 18th IEEE International Conference on

ISSN

1084-6999

Print_ISBN

0-7803-8732-5

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/MEMSYS.2005.1454000

Filename

1454000