Fabrication and demonstration of square lattice two-dimensional rod-type photonic bandgap crystal optical intersections

This paper reports fabrication and demonstration of optical intersections in two-dimensional (2D) rod-type photonic crystal (PhC) structures. High resolution and aspect ratio 2D square lattice PhC waveguide intersections were designed and fabricated for application at the optical communication wavelengths centered at 1550 nm. In the silicon processing front, challenges resolved to overcome issues of drastically reduced process windows caused by the dense PhC rods arrays with critical dimensions (CDs) reduced to only a few hundred nanometers were addressed not only in terms of critical process flow design but also in the development of each processing module. In the lithographic process of deep ultraviolet laser system working at 248 nm, PhC rods of sub-lithographic wavelength CDs (115 nm in radii) were realized in high resolution, even near periphery regions where proximity errors were prone. In the deep etching module, stringent requirements on etch angle control and low sidewall scallops (undulations arising from time multiplexed etch and passivation actions) were satisfied, to prevent catastrophic etch failures, and enable optical quality facets. The successfully fabricated PhCs were also monolithically integrated with large scale optical testing fiber grooves that enabled macro optical fiber assisted coupling to the micro scale PhC devices. In the optical experiments, the transmission and crosstalk properties for the PhC intersection devices with different rod radii at the center of the PhC optical waveguides crossings were measured with repeatability. The properties of the PhC intersections were therefore optimized and verified to correspond well with first principle finite difference time domain simulations.