Title :
Dry etching of LiNbO3 using inductively coupled plasma
Author :
Deng, Jun ; Si, Guangyuan ; Danner, Aaron J.
Author_Institution :
Dept. of ECE, Nat. Univ. of Singapore, Singapore, Singapore
Abstract :
In this letter, we report ridge waveguides fabricated on X-cut proton exchange (PE)-LiNbO3 using inductively coupled plasma (ICP) etching techniques. Various etching masks and fluorine gases are investigated. Smooth etched surfaces are obtained by using Cr as a mask combined with SF6/Ar etching gases. A high etch rate of 97.5 nm/min is achieved by using CHF3/Ar gases. Ridge waveguides with approximately 600nm depth, smooth surfaces and nearly vertical sidewalls are successfully fabricated using optimized etching conditions.
Keywords :
lithium compounds; optical fabrication; optical materials; optical waveguides; ridge waveguides; sputter etching; surface roughness; LiNbO3; X-cut proton exchange; dry etching; etching gases; etching masks; fluorine gases; inductively coupled plasma etching; ridge waveguide fabrication; surface smoothness; Argon; Etching; Optical waveguides; Rough surfaces; Surface roughness;
Conference_Titel :
Photonics Global Conference (PGC), 2010
Conference_Location :
Singapore
Print_ISBN :
978-1-4244-9882-6
DOI :
10.1109/PGC.2010.5706006
