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1999 IEEE International SO1 Conference, Oct.1999

Advances in Silicon-on-Insulator Photonic Integrated Circuit (SOIPIC) Technology

Mikhail Naydenkov and Bahram Jalali Electrical Engineering Department, UCLA, Box 951594, Los Angeles, CA 90095-1594

Abstract

This paper reviews recent developments in SO1 based photonic integrated circuits. Waveguide technology and passive optical devices including periodic waveguides are discussed.

0-7803-5456-7/99/$10.00 01999 IEEE

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lntroafuction CMOS circuits fabricated on SO1 benefit from reduced parasitics and absence of latch up [l] [2] enabling high-speed operation at low power. These represent key requirements in many modem telecommunication and computation systems. The SO1 structure also possesses unique optical properties owing to the large refractive index difference between SilicorL (n=3.45) and Si02 (n=1.46). This has led to the investigation of the optical properties of SO1 waveguides [3] [4] [5] and the development of a number of Photonic Integrtted Circuits (PICs) [6] - [12] . Excellent optical properties as well as true compatibility with silicon CMOS integrated circuit technology is highly promising for future low-cost photonic integrated circuits. While there are other methods for realizing a silicon-based waveguide, such as silicon-on-sapphire (SOS) and the glass waveguide technology, only SO1 is truly compatible with VLSI processing. Waveguides and Passive Devices A competing and more mature approach for planar lightwave circuits is the silica glass waveguide technology [13] - [16] . This technology uses index variation achieved by the doping of Si02 to realize a waveguide structure on either a silicon or glass substrate. Typiczl dopants are Ge, Ti, and P with the films deposited via Chemical Vapor Deposition (CVD) or Flame Hydrolysis (FHD). Compared to SOI, the silica waveguides are weakly confined structures. Typical refractive index step varies from 0.1 - 0.75% resulting in thick cladding layers. The overall waveguide thickness is currently 50 km for thc production process [17] . The silica waveguide technology has been applied successfully to a wide range of applications and is a desirable platform for photonic circuits. However it is not fully compatible with electronic IC technology. There exists a large mismatch between the thickness of the waveguide layers and the active electronic devices which have layer dimensions of a few microns or less. Further, the thick dielectric layers result in stress, which will be problematic in the IC process. The weak optical confinement also prevents close spacing of the waveguides; a property that is crucial for applications in on-chip optical interconnects 1181 . On the other hand, because of the large refractive index difference in the SO1 structure (-58%), t h i n cladding layers can be used malang it compatible with the electronic IC technology.

Single mode propagation with low loss is a prerequisite for the operation of PICs. Conventional wisdom suggests that the large refractive index step in SO1 prevents single mode propagation unless the waveguide has submicrometer transverse dimensions, in which case it will have extremely poor coupling efficiency to optical fibers. However, as shown by Soref and Petermann, single mode propagation is possible in SO1 waveguides with transverse dimensions that are large compared to the optical wavelength in the material [3] [4] . This interesting phenomenon occurs in rib waveguides where the lateral slab regions can support guided modes. While the rib waveguide may be multimode, the higher order modes leak into the surrounding slab regions during propagation resulting in an effective single mode propagation in the rib region. Radiation into the substrate is one of the mechanisms limiting the smallest achievable bend iadius. The effective index of the guided mode decreases in the waveguide bend

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1999 IEEE International $01 Conference, Oct.1999

region. Once the mode effective index becomes lower than the index of the lower cladding layer, substrate radiation loss occurs. Due to the large refractive index step between the silicon guiding layer and the Si02 bottom cladding layer, SO1 waveguides can, in principle, achieve the sharpest bends in any current integrated waveguide technology. To attain a sharp bend and adequate fiber-to-waveguide coupling efficiency, an adiabatic taper (narrower in the bend) can be used [19] .
A number of technologically important optical devices have been demonstrated in SOL

The first directional couplers have exhibited excess insertion losses of 1.9dB with excellent uniformity [lo] . Large (5x9) star couplers with excess losses of 1.3dB have also been demonstrated [I 11 . Asymmetric Mach-Zehnder type wavelength filters with a channel spacing of 4nm (Free Spectral Range 8nm) with suppression ratio of 18dB have been reported [12] . Low loss multimode couplers with high fanout and broadband operation have been fabricated [20] . Optical switches based on the thermooptic effect [6] and free carrier injection [8] have been reported. A routing switch based on based on mode-mixing in SO1 rib waveguide electrically controlled through carrier depletion in a MOS three-terminal device have been proposed in [21] . Side coupled SO1 microring resonators have been reported for use as WDM optical signal channel dropping filters [22-231 and absorptive switching devices [24]. Wet chemical etching of the Si02 has been used to realize movable SO1 waveguides with potential applications in switching and sensors 171 . Finally, asymmetrically coupled SO1 and polymer waveguides have been used to demonstrate wavelength selective photodetection [9] . Figure 1 shows the layout of a 4 channel SO1 Array Waveguide Grating (AWG). The device is an optical demultiplexer/multiplexerand is analogous to a phased array antenna. It consists of two back-to-back star couplers connected by an array of waveguides of constant incremental path length difference [25] - [27] . The device disperses the different spectral components of the signal to the different outputs and is an excellent wavelength multiplexeddemultiplexer for WDM applications. Figure 2 shows the measured wavelength response for a four-channel SO1 phased array grating I281 . The measured FSR is 7.6nm and the channel spacing is 1.9 nm (237GHz). The adjacent channel crosstalk is -22dB and the on chip loss is i6dB for all channels. We have also fabricated an 8-channel device with a channel spacing of 2nm. The device has slightly higher loss otherwise its performance is similar to the 4 channel filter. Arrayed waveguide gratings are the filter of choice in Dense WDM (DWDM) optical communication systems with large number of channels.
A very interesting feature of SO1 waveguides is their weak polarization dependence. Figure 3 shows polarization sensitivity measurements for the phased array grating [28] . A TE-TM shift of approximately 0.04 nm is observed. This to the best of OUT knowledge is the lowest polarization shift observed in any waveguide technology without compensation techniques. The polarization sensitivity in integrated waveguides stems primarily from two sources: 1) intrinsic material birefringence and the stress in the waveguiding layer and 2) the cross-sectional geometry of the waveguide. Unlike silica (glass) waveguides, SO1 films do not have intrinsic stress. Therefore we believe that the main source of polarization dependence in SO1 waveguides is due to the asymmetry of

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the rib geometry. Therefore, the TE-TM dependence can be nearly eliminated with a deep waveguide etch as shown in figure 4. However, there is a limit to the rib height since a very deep etch can result in multimode waveguiding and concomitant distortion of the spectrum.
Periodic Waveguides

Optical filters and microresonators can be realized based on waveguide structures with a high contrast Bragg grating overlay. Being ultra-compact and potentially low-cost, such device,$are promising candidates for future telecom and datacom optical networks. The photonic bandgap (PBG) effect can be exploited by incorporating single or cascaded phase-slip regions in the grating (see Figure 4). Bragg gratings with a phase-slip section have been developed for distributed feedback (DFB) lasers 1291 ,and their use as optical filters in WDM systems has also been proposed [30] [31] [32] . Recently, a number of applications of SO1 based periodic structures have been discussed and both Bragg reflect(xand resonator devices demonstrated in SO1 waveguides [33] -1351 . PBG based structures enable resonant microcavities with theoretically high quality factors. Hence they are attractive candidates for optical networks based on the DWDM technology. The refractive index modulation period, modulation depth and the length of the device are the main parameters determining the optical properties of photonic band gap devices. To obtain efficient coupling of optical mode fiom the input fiber to the PBG, a SO1 substrate with an active Si layer thickness of several micrometers is desired.
We have developed fabrication process for PBG devices in SO1 using electron beam lithography (EBL) and high aspect ratio deep reactive ion etching (DRIE) in time multiplexed inductively coupled fluorine plasma. 10 mm diameter boron doped (resistivity of 8-10 Ohm cm) (100) 2 pm and 5 pm active silicon layer SO1 wafers were used as substrates. Substrates were patterned using direct electron beam writing on both negative (SNR-200) and positive (ZEP-520) resists and deep reactive ion etching using the ri:sists as a mask. Input and output waveguides were fabricated using photolithography and ordinary reactive ion etching.

A Hitachi-700 electron beam lithography system was used for direct writing of deepsubmicrometer patterns. The resist process and proximity effect correction were optimized allowing features down to 25nm to be fabricated. To transfer the pattern form the mist mask to silicon we used a time multiplexed inductively coupled plasma etcher. In this approach [36] a low pressure, high power plasma source allows independent control of ion energy and flux.
The etching cycle consists of three steps: sidewall passivating polymer film deposition using lE4Fs and Ar gases, and two etching steps using SF6 and Ar gases. The passivating f i l m prevents the etching of the sidewalls by SF6 discharges that contain large concentration of atomic fluorine that isotropically etches silicon. During the lst etching step the passivating film is preferentially removed from the bottom of the trenches due to hard ion bombardment in SF~+AI plasma. In zmd etching step SF6+Ar plasma

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1999 IEEE International SO1 Conference, Oct.1999

containing large concentration of atomic fluorine etches silicon in required direction, while the polymer film left on sidewalls prevents its etchings. This etching technique provides us with high selectivity and high etch rate. The experimental variables studied were (1) ICP source power, (2) RF bias power, (3) C4F8 flux, (4) SF6 flux, (5) deposition pressure, (6) etch pressure, (7) deposition time, (8) etch time. Having optimized the process parameters, we successfully fabricated periodic structures with feature sizes as low as lOOnm and to a depth of 3 micron. Figure 5 shows gratings etched in silicon using negative resist (SNR-200) as a hard mask. The etching was six cycles long with depth of etch per cycle depending on the eriod of the gratings. Using the developed fabrication method we obtained Is, 2dand 39 order Bragg gratings and microcavities designed for the 1150 nm optical band. Figure 6 demonstrates k s t order Bragg grating (a), and first order PBG microcavity @), designed to operate at Bragg wavelengths 1514nm and 1583nm respectively. Figure 7 shows plan view of a two dimensional periodic structure w i t h photonic lattice parameter of 300nm. The optical response was measured by using the broadband spontaneous emission of an EDFA. Figure 8 depicts the transmission spectra of (a) 1000 period 31d order grating on 5pm SO1 with etch depth of -3pm (AmO.016) and (b) 1000 period 31d order gating on 2pm SO1 with etch depth of -1pm (An-0.047). As expected, the transmission spectra exhibits a notch at the Bragg wavelength. Further, the larger modulation index (An) in the 2pm SO1 results in a stronger resonance.
Ackno wledgmenf This work has been sponsored by the Defense Advanced Research Project Agency and the Office of Naval Research. References [l] Colinge, Jean-Pierre. Silicon-on-insulator technology: materials to VLSI / by JeanPierre Colinge. Boston: Kluwer Academic Publishers, c1991. [2] L. Peters, SO1 takes over where silicon leaves off, Semiconductor International, 16, pp. 48-51, 1993. [3] R.A. Soref, J. Schmidtchen and K. Petermann, Large single-mode rib waveguides in GeSi and Si-on-Si02, IEEEJ. Quantum Electron., 27, pp. 1971-1974, 1991. [4] J. Schmidtchen, A. Splett, B. Schuppert, K. Petermann, G. Burbach, Low-loss singlemode optical waveguides w i t h large cross-section in silicon-on-insulator, Electronics Letters, 27, pp. 1486-1487, 1991. [ 5 ] A.G. Rickman, G.T. Ree, and F. Namavar, Silicon-on-insulator optical rib waveguide loss and mode characteristics, IEEE J. Lightwave Technol., 12 (lo), pp. 1771-1776, 1994. [6] Fischer, U.; Zinke, T.; Petermann, K. Integrated optical waveguide switches in SOI, IN: 1995 IEEE International SOI Conference Proceedings (Cat. No.95CH35763). Tucson, AZ,USA, 3-5 Oct. 1995, p. 141-2.

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[7] Eng, T.T.H.; Sin, S.S.Y.; Kan, S.C.; Wong, G.K.L. Surface-micromachined movable SO1 optical waveguides, Sensors &Actuator Tech., 1995. p. 348-50 vol.1. [SI Zhao, C.Z.; Li, G.Z.; Liu, E.K.; Gao, Y.; and others. Silicon on insulator MachZehnder waveguide interferometers operating at 1.3 pm Applied Physics Letters, 23 Oct. 1995, vo1.67, (no.17): 2448-9. 191 Psszeshki, B.; Agahi, F.; Kash, J.A.; Welser, J.J.; and others. Wavelength-selective waveguide photodetectors in silicon-on-insulator, Applied Physics Letters, 5 Feb. 1996, vo1.68, (n0.6): 741-3. [lo] P.D. Trinh, S . Yegnanarayanan and B. Jalali, Integrated optical directional couplers in silicon-on-insulator, Electronics Letters, Vol. 3 1, p. 2097, 1995. [I 11 P.D. Trinh, S. Yegnanarayanan and B. Jalali, 5x9 integrated optical star coupler in silicon-on-insulator technology, IEEE Photonics Technology Letters, Vol. 8, p. 704, 1996. [12] P.D. Trinh, S. Yegnanarayanan and B. Jalali, Guided-wave optical Circuits in silicon-on-insulator technology, Technical Digest of the Integrated Photonics Research Conference, April 29-May2, 1996, Boston, Massachusetts, Vol. 6, pp. 273-277. [13] Yosi Shani; Henry, C.H.; Kistler, R.C.; Kazarinov, R.F., Integrated optic adiabatic pldarization splitter on silicon Applied Physics Letters, 8 Jan. 1990, vo1.56, (110.2):120-1. [14] Iv1. Kawachi, Silica waveguides on silicon and their application to integrated optic components, Optical and Quantum Electronics, 22, pp. 391-416, 1990. [15] Toshiyuki Tsuchiya, Kazuyoshi Ohno and Jun Sato, A study of optical functional integrated circuit that uses silica-based waveguide technique, IEICE Trans. Commun. E75-B (9), 1992, p. 871-879. [16] Hknry, C.H. Silica planar waveguides. M: 19th Australian Conference on Optical Fibre Technology (ACOFT 94) Proceedings, 19th Australian Conference on Cptical Fibre Technology (ACOFT 94) Melbourne, Vic., Australia, 4-7 Dec. 1994 p , 326-8. [17] Product Catalog for Photonic Integration Research Inc. (PIN), Columbus, Ohio. [ 181 Ii-o Hayashi, Future OEICs: The basis for photoelectronic integrated systems, in Integrated Optoelectronics, Edited by Mario Dagenais, Robert F. Leheny and John Crow, Academic Press, 1995, pp. 645-676. [19] L.H. Spiehan, Y.S. Oei, E.G. Metaal, F.H. Groen, P. Demeester and M.K. Smit, Ultrasmall waveguide bends: the comer mirrors of the future?, IEE Proc. Clptoelechonics, 142, pp. 61-65, 1994. [20] P.D. Trinh, S. Yegnanarayanan, F. Coppinger and B. Jalali, Compact Multi-mode Interference Couplers in Silicon-on-Insulator Technology, Conference on Lasers a,r?dElectro-Optics,CLEO 97, Baltimore, MD, May 18-23, 1997, paper CThV4, p. 441. [21] A.. De Rossi, G. Masini, G. Assanto, A routing Switch Based on a Silicon-onInsulator Mode-Mixer, IEEE Photonics Technology Letters, 11 ( S ) , pp. 194-196, 1999. [22] BE. Little, S.T. Chu, H.A. Haus, J. Foresi, and J.-P. Laine, Microring Resonator Channel Dropping Filters, Journal OfLightwave Technology, vol. 15, no. 6, pp. 998-1005, 1997.

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[23] B.E. Little, J.S. Foresi, G. Steinmeyer, E.R. Thoen, S.T. Chu, H.A. Haus, E.P. Ippen, L.C. Kimerling, and W. Greene, Ultra-compact %Si02 Microring Resonator Optical Channel Dropping Filters, IEEE Phofonics Technology Lefters, vol. 10, no. 4, pp. 549-551, 1998. [24] B.E. Little, H.A. Haus, J.S. Foresi, L.C. Kimerling, E.P. Ippen, and D.J. Ripin, Ultra-compact Si-Si02 Microring Resonator Optical Channel Dropping Filters, IEEE Photonics Technology Letters, vol. 10, no. 6, pp. 816-818, 1998. [25] H. Takahashi, S . Suzuki, K. Kato, and I. Nishi, Electron Lett., vol. 26, no. 2, pp. 8788, 1990. 1261 A. R. Vellekoop and M.K. Smit, IEEE J. Lightwave Technol. , vol. 9, pp. 310-314, Mar. 1991. 1271 C. Dragone, IEEE Phofonics Technology Letters, vol. 3, pp. 812-814,1991. [28] P.D. Trinh, S . Yegnanarayanan, F. Coppinger and B. Jalali,Silicon-on-Insulator (SOI) phased-array wavelength multi-demultiplexer with extremely lowpolarization sensitivity, IEEE Photonic Technology Letters, vol. 9, no. 7, pp. 940942,1997. [29] Guided-wave optoelectronics - 2d edition, T. Tamir ed., Springer-Verlag, Berlin, 1990. [30] H. A. Haus, and Y . Lai, Theory of cascaded quarter wave shifted distributed feedback resonators, IEEE J. of Quantum El., Vo1.28, NO.l, pp.205-213, 1992. [31] R. Zengerle, and 0. Leminger, Phase-shifted bragg-grating filters with improved transmission characteristics, IEEE Journal of Lightwave Tech., Vol. 13, No.12, pp.2354-2358, 1995. [32] J. N. Damask, V. V. Wong, J. Ferrera, H. I. Smith, H. A. Haus, Highly coherent electron-beam-written quarter-wave-shifted distributed Bragg resonators for channel dropping filters, OFC 95 Technical Digest, pp.225-226, 1995. [33] A. Cuotolo, M. Iodice, A. Irace, P. Spirtito, and L. Zeni, An electrically controlled Bragg reflector integrated in a rib silicon on islulator waveguide, Applied Physics Lefters, vol. 71, no. 2, pp. 199-201, 1997. [34] J.S. Foresi, P.R. Villeneuve, J. Ferrera, E.R. Thoen, G. Steinmeyer, %Fan, J.D. Joannopoulos, L.C.Kimerling, H.I. Smith, and E.P. Ippen, Photonic-bandgap microcavities in optical waveguides, Nature, Vo1.390, pp.143-145, 1997. 1351 J. Tidmarsh and J. Drake, Silicon-on-Insulator Waveguide Bragg Gratings, Technical Digest of the Integrated Photonic Research (IPR 98), March 30 - April 1, 1998, Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. [36] Robert Bosch Gmbh, patents 4855017 and 4784720 (USA), 4241045C1 (Germany).

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Grating

4x30 Star couplers

Focal Length = 4.469mm Grating Order = 192 Area = 2.7x2.7cm2

I wavegui n p u t / es 07

Figure 1: Mask layout for a 4-channel SO1 Arrayed Waveguide Grating (AWG) filter.

0 ,
-5
h

-10 -15

.m m .-

g i z
d

-20
-25

r+

-30
1545 1550 1555

Wavelength (nm)
Figure 2: Measured spectral response for 4 channel AWG. The Channel spacing is 1.9 nm, the crosstalk is -23dB and the chip loss is less than 6dB.

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1999 IEEE International SO1 Conference, Oct.1999

1545.3

1546

1546

Wavelength (nm)
Figure 3: TE-TM polarization sensitivity of 4 channel AWG with a rib height of 3 Pm.

h e cavity Figure 4: Schematic of a Photonic Bandgap structure. (a) The mirror, and @) t consisting of a Bragg grating with a defect.
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1999 IEEE International SO1 Conference, Oct.1999

Figure 5: Test gratings fabricated using e-beam lithography on negative resist (ZEP-200) and deep reactive ion etching in fluorine plasma. The photo shows 0.2pm and 0.3pm lines.

A=220nm

Phase-slip A=230nm + + (d2-defect)

Figure 6 : Top-view SEM photo of (a) 1" order Bragg grating on S O X substrate @) 1'' order PBG microcavity. SO1thickness was 5 pm and etch depth was 2pm.

10

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1999 IEEE International SO1 Conference, Oct.1999

Figure 7: SEM photo for a two-dimensional periodic structure in SO1 w i t h photonic lattice parameter of 300nm. Etch depth lpm.

-40

,
-50

1545

1555

1565

1575

-75 1530

1540

1550

1560

Wavelength (nm)

Wavelength (nm)

Figure 8: Measured transmission spectra of 1000 period 3rd order gratings fabricated (a) on 5pm SO1 (AwO.016) and (b) on 2pm SO1 (hnZ0.047).

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