Laser reactive deposition (LRD) processing for planar lightwave circuit (PLC) manufacturing

Herman A. Lopez; Prasad Narasimha; Xiangxin Bi

doi:10.1117/12.451661

4 November 2002 Laser reactive deposition (LRD) processing for planar lightwave circuit (PLC) manufacturing

Herman A. Lopez, Prasad Narasimha, Xiangxin Bi

Proceedings Volume 4809, Nanoscale Optics and Applications; (2002) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.451661
Event: International Symposium on Optical Science and Technology, 2002, Seattle, WA, United States

Abstract

This report will present a new and highly versatile manufacturing technology, Laser Reactive Deposition (LRD^TM) processing, to produce planar glass coatings for planar lightwave circuit (PLC) manufacturing. Planar glasses with a wide range of glass compositions offering various passive and active optical functionalities have been produced using this technology. In particular, LRD^TM processing removes a major bottleneck experienced by existing glass fabrication technologies in the high speed deposition of thick and complex glasses. In LRD^TM processing, instead of depositing atoms or molecules a layer at a time, nanoscale particles produced in situ are used as fundamental building blocks for planar glass fabrication. The significantly larger mass of these nanoscale clusters in comparison to atoms or molecules has enabled a much higher throughput and lower cost. Optical quality glasses are obtained by a subsequent high temperature consolidation process. The nanoscale particle size and narrow size distribution, uniquely offered by LRD^TM processing, are critical for the fabrication of high optical quality planar glass. We have demonstrated in this work that LRD^TM processing can produce high quality doped waveguide glasses such as phosphorous-doped silicate glass and UV photosensitive glasses such as germanium-doped silicate glass. We have also demonstrated the capabilities of LRD^TM processing in controlling refractive index and layer thickness of the waveguide core to achieve single mode light propagation at 1.55 microns. Finally, we will present characterization results on basic parameters including propagation loss, surface roughness, and refractive index and thickness uniformity on 4 inch planar glass wafers deposited using LRD^TM processing.

Citation Download Citation

Herman A. Lopez, Prasad Narasimha, and Xiangxin Bi "Laser reactive deposition (LRD) processing for planar lightwave circuit (PLC) manufacturing", Proc. SPIE 4809, Nanoscale Optics and Applications, (4 November 2002); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.451661

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