Optical Waveguides in Oxygen-Implanted Buried-Oxide Silicon-on-Insulator Structures

摘要

There is continued interest in the use of silicon as a basic material for integrated optics. Compatibility with the technology used for the fabrication of silicon integrated circuits is clearly an important motivation. Several silicon-based integrated-optical systems-waveguide demultiplexers, spectrum analyzers, and others-have already been described in the literature. Newer applications such as the interconnection of electronic circuits and systems, many of which are fabricated in silicon, make the question of the potential role of silicon in integrated optics all the more interesting. The optical waveguide is perhaps the most fundamental component needed for any integrated-optical system. We analyze the waveguiding properties of the oxygen-implanted, buried-oxide, silicon-on-insulator structures currently being developed for use in microelectronics. We find that in spite of the fact that the buried-oxide layer is only a few tenths of a micrometer thick, the single-crystal overlayer can support Te sub O guided-wave propagation, at subbandgap wavelengths, with losses due to substrate radiation leakage at or below the benchmark level of 1 dB/cm. Reprints. (aw)