Deposited amorphous silicon-on-insulator technology for nano-photonic integrated circuits

Low-loss deposited amorphous silicon (α-Si:H) layers for nano-photonic integrated circuit have been prepared using complementary-metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) compatible technology. Waveguide loss as low as 3.45 dB/cm is reported for films deposited at a low temperature (300 °C) using plasma enhanced chemical vapour deposition process. The influence of the deposition parameters such as gas dilution, plasma power and pressure on the quality of the deposited material is thoroughly characterized using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), spectroscopic ellipsometry, X-ray diffraction and atomic force microscopy. We show that the optical quality of the deposited film can be directly assessed from distinct frequency bands (2090, 2000 and 840 cm−1) using FTIR, without the need for further waveguide loss measurements.