Design and analysis of small-area air trench bends and splitters

Abstract

High efficiency small-area waveguide bends and splitters for perfluorocyclobutane (PFCB) copolymer materials have been designed with air trench structures (ATSs). An air trench at the intersection of one input and two output waveguides can function as a high efficiency splitter. High efficiency small-area waveguide bends are achieved by placing ATSs at the waveguide bend corners and operate through total internal reflection (TIR). In this paper we discuss bends and splitters that are designed specifically for constructing a ring resonator and a Mach-Zender interferometer. Two dimensional (2-D) finite difference time domain (FDTD) analysis has been used for design. In order to further examine the performance of realistic small-area air trench bend structures, we have also employed three dimensional (3-D) FDTD. From 3-D FDTD simulation results, we find that the 2-D designs are representative of actual devices. By combining small-area air trench bends and splitters, we show how a compact ring resonator can be realized. Simulation results show attractive properties for the proposed ring resonator design. Preliminary ATS etch results of PFCB with CO and O₂ shows the possibility of fabricating the proposed devices.