Passband flattened interleaver using a Mach- Zehnder interferometer with ring resonator fabricated in SiON waveguide technology.

A wavelength interleaver having almost rectangular wavelength response, with 50 GHz free spectral range has been demonstrated using SiON waveguide technology. The device consists of an asymmetric Mach-Zehnder Interferometer (MZI), with a ring resonator coupled to one of its branches. A passband flattened and stopband broadened transfer function with 15 dB isolation for TM polarized light (12 dB for TE) has been measured. The isolation was less than the designed 30 dB due to fabrication errors causing a deviation in coupling coefficient between MZI-branch and ring. The chromatic dispersion was measured to be zero in the center and 1660 ps/nm at the edge of the passband

Passband flattening and rejection band broadening of a periodic Mach-Zehnder wavelength filter by adding a tuned ring resonator

A thermo-optically tuneable periodic wavelength filter having a rectangular wavelength response with a 50 GHz free spectral range, based on a Mach-Zehnder interferometer with ring resonator has been fabricated in SiON waveguide technology

Direct measurement of the on-chip insertion loss of high finesse microring resonators in Si3N4-SiO2 technology.

Microring resonators show the possibility for designing Very Large Scale Integrated (VLSI) photonic circuits by cascading them. In order to realize the devices, the on-chip insertion loss becomes an important parameter. The direct measurement of the on-chip insertion loss of a high finesse microring resonator will be presented. Its value (0.1 ± 0.1) dB is low, in agreement with calculations

Deposition and characterization of PECVD phosphorus doped silicon oxynitride layers for integrated optics applications

Phosphorus-doped silicon oxynitride layers have been deposited by a Plasma Enhanced Chemical Vapor Deposition process from $N_20$, 2% $SiH_4/N_2$ and 5% $PH_3/Ar$ gaseous mixtures. The $PH_3/Ar$ flow rate was varied to investigate the effect of the dopant to the layer properties. As deposited and annealed (600, 800, 900 and 1000 °C) layers were characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, Rutherford backscattering spectroscopy and spectroscopic ellipsometry. In this way the refractive index could be determined as well as the amount of hydrogen that is responsible for enhanced absorption in the 3rd telecommunication window around 1550 nm. The N-H bonds concentration was found to decrease with the phosphorus concentration. Furthermore the bonded hydrogen in the entire P-doped layers have been eliminated after annealing at 1000 °C, while undoped SiON layers require annealing at 1150 °C

Reduction of hydrogen-induced optical losses of plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition silicon oxynitride by phosphorus doping and heat treatment

Plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition phosphoros-doped silicon oxynitride (SiON) layers with a refractive index of 1.505 were deposited from $N_{2}O$, 2% $SiH_{4}/N_{2}$, and 5% $PH_{3}/Ar$ gaseous mixtures. The $PH_{3}/Ar$ flow rate was varied to investigate the effect of the dopant to the layer properties. We studied the compositions and the chemical environment of phosphorus, silicon, oxygen, nitrogen and hydrogen in these layers by using x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. The number of N-H and O-H bonds, which are responsible for optical losses around 1.55 and 1.3 μm, decreases in the as-deposited layers with increasing phosphorus concentration. Furthermore, the bonded hyrogen in all P-doped layers has been eliminated after annealing at a temperature significantly lower than required for undoped silicon oxynitride layers, that is so to say 1000°C instead of 1150°C. The resulting optical loss in the entire third telecommunication window was well below 0.2dB/cm, making P-doped SiON an attractive material for demanding integrated optics applications

Influence of phosphorus doping on hydrogen content and optical losses in PECVD silicon oxynitride

PECVD Phosphorus-doped silicon oxynitride layers (n=1.5) were deposited from N2O, 2%SiH4/N2, NH3 and 5%PH3/Ar gaseous mixtures. Chemical bonds were determined by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. N–H bond concentration of the layers decreased from 3.29×10-21 to 0.45×10-21 cm−3, as the 5%PH3/Ar flow rate increased from 0 to 60 sccm. A simultaneous decrease of O–H related bonds was also observed within the same phosphine flow range. The optical loss of slab-type waveguides at λ=1505 nm was found to decrease from 14.1 to 6.2 dB/cm as the 5%PH3/Ar flow rate increased from 0 to 30 sccm, respectively. Moreover, the optical loss values around λ=1400 and 1550 nm were found to decrease from 4.7 to below 0.2 dB/cm and from 1.8 to 1.0 dB/cm respectively. These preliminary results are very promising for applications in low-loss integrated optical devices

Fabrication of Polymeric Multimode Waveguides for Application in the Local Area Network and Optical Interconnects.

We report the fabrication of multimode polymeric waveguides using spin coating, photolithography, and reactive ion etching. Different layer structures have been used, e.g., a UV curable resin is used as a core layer and PMMA as a lower and upper cladding. The layer systems can be spun with good uniformity with thicknesses matching multimode fiber dimensions, and smooth waveguide side-walls have been obtained after etching. The measured performance of these waveguides demonstrates that low-loss waveguides can be fabricated cheaply. The waveguides are used in the realization of novel compact multimode power splitters and star couplers

Metal mask free dry-etching process for integrated optical devices applying highly photostabilized resist.

Photostabilization is a widely used post lithographic resist treatment process, which allows to harden the resist profile in order to maintain critical dimensions and to increase selectivity in subsequent process steps such as reactive ion etching. In this paper we present the optimization of deep UV-curing of 0,3-3.3 μm thick positive resist profiles followed by heat treatment up to 280 °C. The effectiveness of this resist treatment allows for metal mask free reactive ion etching with selectivity up to 6 for silicon structures, thermal silicon oxide and silicon oxynitride. This procedure is demonstrated by the results obtained in etching of various integrated optical structures

B/P Doping in application of silicon oxynitride based integrated optics

In this paper, gaseous precursors containing boron or phosphorous were intentionally introduced in the deposition of SiON layers and upper SiO2 claddings. The measurements show that the as-deposited B/P-doped SiON layers contain less hydrogen than undoped layers. Furthermore, the necessary annealing temperature for elimination of hydrogen related absorption (propagation loss) is greatly reduced in B/P-doped layers

Design and fabrication of 1xN and NxN planar waveguide couplers for multimode fiber-based local area networks.

We report on the design and fabrication of compact and potentially low-cost multimode fiber matched 1 x N and N x N couplers for LAN’s. The design utilizes the self-imaging effect and tapering of the Multi-Mode Interference (MMI) section. An extended mode propagation analysis and 3-D beam propagation method (BPM) were used to analyze and design these structures. The simulations show that the couplers exhibit low excess losses, low power imbalance, and relaxed fabrication tolerances at very short device length. The devices were fabricated in polymer waveguide technology using spin coating, photolithography, and reactive ion etching. Preliminary experimental results show promising characteristics