Abstract
The creation of large-area, unintentional-defect-free three-dimensional (3D) photonic crystals in the optical regime is a key challenge toward the realization of the arbitrary 3D manipulation of photons. In this article, we discuss an advanced fabrication method of 3D silicon photonic crystals based on the highly accurate alignment and wafer bonding of silicon-on-insulator (SOI) wafers. We introduce an advanced alignment system, in which the alignment process is automated by image recognition and feed-back control of stages, and show that it achieves an alignment accuracy better than ~50 nm. The bonding of SOI wafers is also investigated to obtain 3D crystals composed of highly pure crystalline silicon. We show the fabrication results of large-area 3D photonic crystals based on such considerations and demonstrate the successful introduction of artificial defects as functional components, such as coupled waveguide pairs or waveguides/nanocavities. We expect that these will be pioneering results toward the arbitrary 3D control of photons using 3D photonic crystals.
Highlights
The fabrication of 3D photonic crystals, which show wavelength-scaled 3D periodic variation of the refractive index and possess a complete photonic bandgap, has been intensively investigated [1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14] because they are expected to enable the arbitrary control of photons with the aid of embedded emitting materials and/or artificially introduced defects as functional photonic components
Patterns by micro-manipulation [7,12], template-based depositions [4,6,11,17], self-assembly [18], and multi-directional deep etching by reactive ion etching [9,19,20] or ion-beam etching [21,22,23,24], a method that enables the fabrication of 3D photonic crystals satisfying the following criteria is demanded: no unintentional defects,a method and (3) that high enables design deep etching(1)byarbitrary reactive large-area ion etchingfabrication
We have successfully demonstrated a variety of wafer-bonding techniques, which include the homogeneous bonding of indium phosphide (InP) or gallium arsenide (GaAs) [1,5,8] and the heterogeneous bonding of InP/GaAs [2,37] or InP/Si [9] for the integration of emitting materials into the 3D photonic crystal
Summary
The creation of three-dimensional (3D) photonic nanostructures in the optical wavelength regime is a key challenge for the arbitrary 3D manipulation of photons, including the control of emission or localization/propagation characteristics of photons without restrictions of directions and polarizations. Photonics 2016, 3, 36 semiconductor layers and 2D processing [3,16], the stacking of small semiconductor pieces with 2D patterns by micro-manipulation [7,12], template-based depositions [4,6,11,17], self-assembly [18], and multi-directional deep etching by reactive ion etching [9,19,20] or ion-beam etching [21,22,23,24], a method that enables the fabrication of 3D photonic crystals satisfying the following criteria is demanded: no unintentional defects,a method and (3) that high enables design deep etching(1)byarbitrary reactive large-area ion etchingfabrication,. Results for stacked-stripe 3D photonic-crystal structures and artificial defects We expect that these will be pioneering results toward the arbitrary 3D control of photons
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