title: Exploring High Refractive Index Silicon-Rich Nitride Films by Low-Temperature Inductively Coupled Plasma Chemical Vapor Deposition and Applications for Integrated Waveguides.
abstract: Silicon-rich nitride films are developed and explored using an inductively coupled plasma chemical vapor deposition system at low temperature of 250 °C with an ammonia-free gas chemistry. The refractive index of the developed silicon-rich nitride films can increase from 2.2 to 3.08 at 1550 nm wavelength while retaining a near-zero extinction coefficient when the amount of silane increases. Energy dispersive spectrum analysis gives the silicon to nitrogen ratio in the films. Atomic force microscopy shows a very smooth surface, with a surface roughness root-mean-square of 0.27 nm over a 3 μm × 3 μm area of the 300 nm thick film with a refractive index of 3.08. As an application example, the 300 nm thick silicon-rich nitride film is then patterned by electron beam lithography and etched using inductively coupled plasma system to form thin-film micro/nano waveguides, and the waveguide loss is characterized.
authors.affiliation: Data Storage Institute (A*STAR) Agency for Science Technology & Research , DSI Building, 5 Engineering Drive 1, Singapore 117608, Singapore.
authors.forename: Doris K T
authors.initials: DK
authors.lastname: Ng
authors.affiliation: Data Storage Institute (A*STAR) Agency for Science Technology & Research , DSI Building, 5 Engineering Drive 1, Singapore 117608, Singapore.
authors.forename: Qian
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Photonics Devices and Systems Group, Singapore University of Technology and Design , 8 Somapah Road, Singapore 487372, Singapore.
authors.forename: Ting
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Data Storage Institute (A*STAR) Agency for Science Technology & Research , DSI Building, 5 Engineering Drive 1, Singapore 117608, Singapore.
authors.forename: Siu-Kit
authors.initials: SK
authors.lastname: Ng
authors.affiliation: Data Storage Institute (A*STAR) Agency for Science Technology & Research , DSI Building, 5 Engineering Drive 1, Singapore 117608, Singapore.
authors.forename: Yeow-Teck
authors.initials: YT
authors.lastname: Toh
authors.affiliation: Data Storage Institute (A*STAR) Agency for Science Technology & Research , DSI Building, 5 Engineering Drive 1, Singapore 117608, Singapore.
authors.forename: Kim-Peng
authors.initials: KP
authors.lastname: Lim
authors.affiliation: Data Storage Institute (A*STAR) Agency for Science Technology & Research , DSI Building, 5 Engineering Drive 1, Singapore 117608, Singapore.
authors.forename: Yi
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.affiliation: Photonics Devices and Systems Group, Singapore University of Technology and Design , 8 Somapah Road, Singapore 487372, Singapore.
authors.forename: Dawn T H
authors.initials: DT
authors.lastname: Tan
keywords: CMOS compatible; ICP-CVD; SRN; nonlinear optics; refractive index; silicon-rich nitride; waveguides