Abstract
We demonstrate low-loss slot waveguides on silicon-on-insulator (SOI) platform. Waveguides oriented along the (11-2) direction on the Si (110) plane were first fabricated by a standard e-beam lithography and dry etching process. A TMAH based anisotropic wet etching technique was then used to remove any residual side wall roughness. Using this fabrication technique propagation loss as low as 3.7dB/cm was realized in silicon slot waveguide for wavelengths near 1550nm. We also realized low propagation loss of 1dB/cm for silicon strip waveguides.
Highlights
The slot waveguide structure was first proposed by Almeida et al (2004) as a simple way to achieve extremely strong optical confinement in a low refractive index medium
An all-dielectric slot waveguide is formed by two high index waveguiding regions separated by a narrow region of low index material
In this letter, we have proposed and demonstrated a simple fabrication technique to realize low-loss strip and slot waveguides on SOI platform
Summary
The slot waveguide structure was first proposed by Almeida et al (2004) as a simple way to achieve extremely strong optical confinement in a low refractive index medium. Since the light is more confined in the slot region, any surface roughness, introduced during the fabrication process, causes significant scattering loss. Spott et al (2011) reported a record low propagation loss of 1.7 dB/cm from a slot waveguide by introducing different silicon arm widths.
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