2D InP photonic crystal fabrication process development

2D InP photonic crystal fabrication process development

Rong, B.
Van der Drift, E.
Van der Heijden, R.W.
Salemink, H.W.M.

Applied Sciences

Kavli Institute of Nanoscience

2006-08-29

We have developed a reliable process to fabricate high quality 2D air-hole and dielectric column InP photonic crystals with a high aspect ratio on a STS production tool using ICP N2+Cl2 plasma. The photonic crystals have a triangular lattice with lattice constant of 400 nm and air-hole and dielectric column radius of 120 nm. Large efforts have been devoted on developing a proper mask. We obtained a perfect, clean and vertical profiled SiNX mask. The next main effort is InP pattern transfer in Cl2+N2 plasma. Etching selectivity, smooth sidewall and etch profile are directly related to plasma process condition, besides the quality of SiNX mask. We have optimized the N2+Cl2 plasma condition to obtain high aspect ratio, vertical profile and smooth sidewall InP structures. Cylindrical holes (2 micron depth) and rodlike pillars (2.4 micron height) are uniformly fabricated. An aspect ratio of 18 for 100nm trench lines has been obtained. AFM measurement evidences that etched surfaces are smooth. The root mean square roughness of pillar and hole is 0.7 nm and 0.8 nm, respectively. The optical transmission characterization of ridge waveguides has been carried out. Transmission spectrum of 1 micron wide waveguide has been obtained.

nanophotonics
nanophotonic crystal
III-V photonic crystal
InP nanophotonic crystal
high aspect ratio
2D
photonic crystal
gratings
hole and pillar
Cl2+N2 plasma
nanofabrication
nanotechnology

http://resolver.tudelft.nl/uuid:9287d9a0-915b-4c86-a1bc-ee4e3a33b44c

SPIE

0277-786X

Proceedings of SPIE, 2006 vol. 6327

Institutional Repository

conference paper

(c) 2006 Rong, B., Van der Drift, E., Van der Heijden, R.W., Salemink, H.W.M.