CO2laser annealing of Si3N4, Nb2O5, and Ta2O5thin-film optical waveguides to achieve scattering loss reduction

Significant reductions in the optical scattering losses of Si3N4, Nb2O5, and Ta2O5waveguides fabricated on SiO2/Si substrates have been measured following CO2laser annealing. The largest improvements were observed for Si3N4waveguides, where waveguide attenuation values of about 6.0 dB/cm before laser annealing were reduced to as low as 0.1 dB/cm afterwards. An improvement of more than an order of magnitude was obtained for a Nb2O5waveguide upon laser annealing, the attenuation coefficient decreasing from 7.4 to 0.6 dB/cm. In the case of one Nb2O5waveguide no improvement was obtained upon laser annealing. The attenuation coefficient of a reactively sputtered Ta2O5waveguide was found to decrease from 1.3 dB/cm before laser annealing to 0.4 dB/cm afterwards. In the case of a thermally oxidized Ta2O5waveguide a small initial improvement in waveguide attenuation was followed by degradation upon further laser annealing.