Angled etching of (001) rutile Nb–TiO2 substrate using SF6-based capacitively coupled plasma reactive ion etching

Abstract

We demonstrated the plasma etching of a (001) rutile Nb–TiO2 substrate using SF6 plasma. A vertical etching profile and a smooth etched surface were obtained. In addition, the angled etching of a (001) rutile Nb–TiO2 substrate was achieved in a conventional SF6 reactive ion etching system for the first time. The etching angle was determined by the angle of the groove of the holder. We believe that our simple dry etching technique is suitable for the formation of a three-dimensional photonic crystal with complete photonic bandgap (CPBG) and optical waveguides.