Silicon Oxynitride Layers for Optical Waveguide Applications

Abstract

We report on the fabrication and characterization of silicon oxynitride (SiON) layers for applications as planar optical waveguides in the 1550 nm wavelength region. The optically guiding SiON waveguide core layer has a relatively high refractive index of 1500 and is sandwiched between two silicon oxide cladding layers with a lower refractive index of 1450. The SiON layer is deposited by plasma‐enhanced chemical vapor deposition using silane, nitrous oxide, and ammonia as gaseous precursors. Waveguide bends with a radius of curvature as small as 1.5 mm can be realized because of the high refractive index difference achievable between core and cladding layers. This allows the fabrication of compact, relatively complex integrated optical waveguide devices. The deposition process and the characterization of the SiON films are discussed. The strengths of this high refractive index contrast planar waveguide technology are illustrated using the example of an optical add/drop filter for wavelength division multiplexing applications in the field of optical communication systems. © 2000 The Electrochemical Society. All rights reserved.

Mode-Locked Ultrashort Pulse Generation from On-Chip Normal Dispersion Microresonators

“…The frequency data is then used to evaluate the GVD. For the fundamental mode family, a loaded Q-factor of more than 10 6 is achieved at 1600 nm while the Q-factors at the telecommunications C-band wavelengths are more than 4× lower due to residual N-H absorption [27]. For the higher order mode families, Q-factors are orders of magnitude smaller and thus no Kerr comb is generated from these mode families.…”

Optimization of plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition silicon oxynitride layers for integrated optics applications

“…This is the well known effect of the first and the second overtones of the N-H and Si-H frequencies respectively. By a post deposition thermal treatment [2,4,5,8,10] the hydrogen can be removed and the losses at 1550 nm can be reduced to below 0.2 dB/cm. Recent experiments on phosphorus doping of SiON layers show that a significant reduction can be obtained in the hydrogen bonds concentration as well as the optical loss at 1550 nm, when compared to the undoped samples [9].…”

“…In recent years, increasing attention has been paid to silicon based dielectrics such as silicon oxynitride (SiO x N y :H or shortly SiON) as a promising material for densely integrated optics [1][2][3][4][5]. This is mainly due to the possibility of obtaining high refractive index (n) contrast waveguiding structures for a broad wavelength range from visible to IR by changing the nitrogen/oxygen composition from SiO 2 (n = 1.46) to Si 3 N 4 (n = 2.0).…”

“…This, in turn can be controlled by the parameters of the PECVD process, like the flow rate and the ratio of the process gases, the chamber pressure, the radio frequency (RF) power and the substrate temperature. A serious drawback of the chosen deposition process is the incorporation of undesirable N-H and Si-H bonds in the layers [2,[4][5][6], which significantly increase the optical loss in the spectral region of interest for telecom applications [2,4,5,[8][9][10].…”

Prediction of surface microtrenching by using neural network

“…Silicon oxynitride (SiON) films have been extensively studied because SiON is a promising material in manufacturing optical and electronic devices [1][2][3]. A high refractive index contrast between the core and the cladding layer is advantageous in manufacturing optical waveguides.…”