Abstract

In this article we present silicon oxycarbide (SiOC) as a potential dielectric platform for integrated photonic applications. By controlling the amount of carbon and oxygen in the composition of SiOC films, which in this work are deposited by using a reactive RF magnetron sputtering process, the refractive index of the material can be widely tuned from less than that of silica 1.40 to almost that of silicon carbide (3.0), while keeping high transparency in the near-infrared wavelength range. An in-depth analysis of the structural, morphological and optical properties of the deposited SiOC thin films is reported, pointing out the relationship between the change in the film composition and the tuneability of the refractive index. Single mode optical waveguides with a refractive index contrast of up to 28% and propagation loss as low as 2 dB/cm at 1550 nm are demonstrated. An integrated Mach-Zehnder interferometer is presented as a first example of PIC realized on high refractive index SiOC platform. Results show that SiOC is a promising alternative to conventional dielectric platforms for the realization of PICs.

Low-loss planar optical waveguides based on plasma deposited silicon oxycarbide

Lars Baudzus and Peter M. Krummrich
Opt. Mater. Express 9(7) 2797-2805 (2019)

Ultra-low temperature silicon nitride photonic integration platform

Zengkai Shao, Yujie Chen, Hui Chen, Yanfeng Zhang, Fangxing Zhang, Jian Jian, Zeming Fan, Lin Liu, Chunchuan Yang, Lidan Zhou, and Siyuan Yu
Opt. Express 24(3) 1865-1872 (2016)

Plasmonic nanofocusing of light in an integrated silicon photonics platform

Boris Desiatov, Ilya Goykhman, and Uriel Levy
Opt. Express 19(14) 13150-13157 (2011)

Integrated programmable photonic filter on the silicon-on-insulator platform

Shasha Liao, Yunhong Ding, Christophe Peucheret, Ting Yang, Jianji Dong, and Xinliang Zhang
Opt. Express 22(26) 31993-31998 (2014)

Hybrid 3C-silicon carbide-lithium niobate integrated photonic platform

Rakesh Krishna, Tianren Fan, Amir H. Hosseinnia, Xi Wu, Zhongdi Peng, and Ali Adibi
Opt. Express 32(8) 14555-14564 (2024)