Process Modeling, Optimization and Characterization of Silicon <100> Optical Waveguides by Anisotropic Wet Etching
We present a detailed fabrication process of silicon optical waveguide with a depth of 4μm via simulation and experiment. An anisotropic wet etching using Potassium Hydroxide (KOH) solutions was selected to study the influence of major fabrication parameters such as etch rate, oxidation time and...
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| Main Authors: | , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | en |
| Published: |
Trans Tech Publications
2012
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://eprints.utem.edu.my/id/eprint/13076/1/icmens_ura.pdf http://eprints.utem.edu.my/id/eprint/13076/ |
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| Summary: | We present a detailed fabrication process of silicon optical waveguide with a depth of 4μm
via simulation and experiment. An anisotropic wet etching using Potassium Hydroxide (KOH)
solutions was selected to study the influence of major fabrication parameters such as etch rate,
oxidation time and development time to the fabrication performance. The fabrication of the silicon
waveguide with the orientation of <100> was modeled using ATHENA from 2D Silvaco software
and was later compared with the actual fabricated device. Etching time of 4 minutes was required to
etch the Si to the depth of 4μm to obtain a perfectly trapeizoidal optical waveguide structure. Our
results show that the simulation model is trustworthy to predict the performance of the practical
anisotropic wet etching fabrication process. The silicon-based waveguide components are targeted to
be employed in realizing future photonic devices such as optical modulators. |
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