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US 2003/0207485 A1Published application
Optical waveguide with layered core and methods of manufacture thereof
AssigneeIntel Corporation
InventorKjetil Johannessen
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A semiconductor waveguide is disclosed which includes a substrate coated with a cladding. A core is embedded in the cladding. The core includes a plurality of discreet stacked layers of core material surrounded by cladding material. The cladding and core layers each include silica and silicon nitride with the core layers having a higher nitrogen content than the cladding material. The core is fabricated by carefully manipulating the process parameters of a PECVD process.
Claims26
A semiconductor waveguide comprising:
- a substrate, the substrate coated with a cladding,
- a core embedded in the cladding, the core comprising a plurality of discreet stacked layers of core material surrounded by cladding,
- the cladding comprising SiO2 and Si3N4,
- the layers of the core material comprising SiO2 and Si3N4,
- the layers of the core having a nitrogen content that is greater than a nitrogen content of the cladding.
2 more elements
A method of fabricating an optical waveguide, the method comprising:
- (a) coating a substrate with a cladding material comprising SiO2 and Si3N4 by a PECVD process using SiH4, N2O and a nitrogen-containing gas selected from NH3 and N2 as precursor gases fed to a chamber housing the substrate and with a first nitrogen-containing gas flow rate,
- (b) coating a layer of core material on the cladding using the PECVD process with SiH4, N2O and the nitrogen-containing gas selected from NH3 and N2 as precursor gases but at a second nitrogen-containing gas flow rate that is less than the first nitrogen-containing gas flow rate,
- (c) coating a cladding material layer on the layer of core material using the PECVD process using SiH4, N2O and the nitrogen-containing gas selected from NH3 and N2 as precursor gases but at a third nitrogen-containing gas flow rate that is greater than the second nitrogen-containing gas flow rate,
- (d) repeating steps (b) and (c),
- (e) etching the alternating layers of core material and cladding material to form an optical waveguide core,
- (f) coating the optical waveguide core with cladding material.
3 more elements
A method of fabricating an optical waveguide with reduced polarization dependence, the method comprising:
- (a) coating a substrate with a cladding material comprising SiO2 and Si3N4 by a PECVD process using SiH4, N2O and a nitrogen-containing gas selected from NH3 and N2 as precursor gases fed to a chamber housing the substrate and with a first nitrogen-containing gas flow rate,
- (b) coating a layer of core material on the cladding using the PECVD process with SiH4, N2O and the nitrogen-containing gas as precursor gases but at a second nitrogen-containing gas flow rate that is less than the first nitrogen-containing gas flow rate and at a temperature so as to induce a stress between the layer of core material and underlying cladding,
- (c) coating a cladding material layer on the layer of core material using the PECVD process using SiH4, N2O and the nitrogen-containing gas as precursor gases but at a third nitrogen-containing gas flow rate that is greater than the second nitrogen-containing gas flow rate and at a temperature so as to induce a stress between the cladding material layer and the underlying layer of core material,
- (d) repeating steps (b) and (c),
- (e) etching the alternating layers of core material and cladding material to form an optical waveguide core,
- (f) coating the optical waveguide core with cladding material.
3 more elements
A method of fabricating an optical waveguide comprising a core embedded in a cladding with reduced roughness along sidewalls of the core, the method comprising:
- (a) coating a substrate with a cladding material comprising SiO2 and Si3N4 by a PECVD process using SiH4, N2O and a nitrogen-containing gas selected from NH3 and N2 as precursor gases fed to a chamber housing the substrate and with a first nitrogen-containing gas flow rate,
- (b) coating a layer of core material on the cladding using the PECVD process with SiH4, N2O and the nitrogen-containing gas as precursor gases but at a second nitrogen-containing gas flow rate that is less than the first nitrogen-containing gas flow rate,
- (c) coating a cladding material layer on the layer of core material using the PECVD process using SiH4, N2O and nitrogen-containing gas as precursor gases but at a third nitrogen-containing gas flow rate that is greater than the second nitrogen-containing gas flow rate, wherein steps (b) and (c) are carried out at essentially identical temperatures below the crystallization temperatures for SiO2 and Si3N4 in a binary SiO2 and Si3N4 system but above the eutectic point for the binary SiO2 and Si3N4 system,
- (d) repeating steps (b) and (c),
- (e) etching the alternating layers of core material and cladding material to form an optical waveguide core,
- (f) coating the optical waveguide core with cladding material.
3 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.