Optical dielectric planar waveguide process
AssigneePOET Technologies, Inc.
InventorsWilliam Ring, Miroslaw Florjanczyk, Suresh Venkatesan
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Abstract
A method for depositing silicon oxynitride film structures is provided that is used to form planar waveguides. These film structures are deposited on substrates and the combination of the substrate and the planar waveguide is used in the formation of optical interposers and subassemblies. The silicon oxynitride film structures are deposited using low thermal budget processes and hydrogen-free oxygen and hydrogen-free nitrogen precursors to produce planar waveguides that exhibit low losses for optical signals transmitted through the waveguide of 1 dB/cm or less. The silicon oxynitride film structures and substrate exhibit low stress levels of less than 20 MPa.
Claims20
A structure comprising
- a substrate,
- wherein the substrate comprises an interconnection layer comprising an electrical interconnection line,
- a waveguide disposed on the interconnection layer,
- wherein the waveguide comprises a stack of multiple layers of silicon oxynitride films,
- wherein the waveguide comprises a core comprising silicon oxynitride,
- wherein at least a silicon oxynitride film in the multiple layers of silicon oxynitride films is deposited using a plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) process,
- wherein process gases in the PECVD process comprise a silicon-containing precursor not containing hydrogen and one or more precursors for oxygen and nitrogen, and
- wherein the one or more precursors of oxygen and nitrogen comprise an amount of hydrogen less than 10% of the process gases.
A structure comprising
- a substrate,
- wherein the substrate comprises an interconnection layer comprising an electrical interconnection line,
- a waveguide disposed on the interconnection layer,
- wherein the waveguide comprises a stack of multiple layers of silicon oxynitride films,
- wherein the waveguide comprises a core comprising silicon oxynitride,
- wherein at least a silicon oxynitride film in the multiple layers of silicon oxynitride films is deposited using a plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) process, and
- wherein process gases in the PECVD process comprise an amount of hydrogen configured to form the at least a silicon oxynitride film having a stress level less than 25 MPa in magnitude or configured to form the at least a silicon oxynitride film using process temperatures less than 500 C to prevent damages to the substrate.
A structure comprising
- a waveguide disposed on a substrate,
- wherein the substrate comprises an interconnection layer formed on an electrical device, and
- wherein the interconnection layer comprises an electrical interconnection line electrically connected to a terminal of the electrical device,
- wherein the waveguide comprises a stack of multiple layers of silicon oxynitride films,
- wherein the waveguide comprises a core comprising silicon oxynitride,
- wherein at least a silicon oxynitride film in the multiple layers of silicon oxynitride films is deposited using a plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) process, and
- wherein process gases in the PECVD process comprise an amount of hydrogen configured to form the at least a silicon oxynitride film, as-deposited, having a level of optical loss of less than 1 dB/cm.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.