Integration of atomic layer deposited nanolaminates on silicon waveguides (Conference Presentation)

Abstract

Despite all the eminent advantages of silicon photonics, other materials need to be integrated to fulfill the functions that are difficult to realize with silicon alone. This is because silicon has a low light emission efficiency and a low electro-optic coefficient, limiting the use of silicon as a material for light sources and modulators. A strong two-photon absorption (TPA) at high intensities also limits the use of silicon in applications exploiting nonlinear effects. In addition, signal amplification is needed to compensate the insertion and propagation losses in silicon nanowaveguides. To address these issues we have demonstrated the integration of atomic layer deposited nanolaminates on silicon waveguides. Firstly we demonstrate slot waveguide ring resonators patterned on a silicon-on-insulator (SOI) wafer coated with an atomic layer deposited organic/inorganic nanolaminate structure, which consists of alternating layers of tantalum pentoxide (Ta2O5) and polyimide (PI) [1]. These materials were selected since the ALD process for depositing Ta2O5/PI nanolaminate films is already available [2] and both materials exhibit high third order nonlinearities [3-4]. In our nanolaminate ring resonators, the optical power is not only confined in the narrow central air slot but also in several parallel sub-10 nm wide vertical polyimide slots. This indicates that the mode profiles in the silicon slot waveguide can be accurately tuned by the atomic layer deposition (ALD) method. Our results show that ALD of organic and inorganic materials can be combined with conventional silicon waveguide fabrication techniques to create slot waveguide ring resonators with varying mode profiles. Secondly we demonstrate the integration of atomic layer deposited erbium-doped aluminum oxide (Al2O3) nanolaminates on silicon waveguides. This method provides an efficient way for controlling the concentration and distribution of erbium ions. We have applied this method on silicon strip and slot waveguides and show signal enhancement. Our results show that atomic layer deposited nanolaminates can potentially open new possibilities for various photonic applications, such as silicon photonic devices for light emission and amplification, optical sensing and all-optical signal processing.