Open AccessFabrication and characterization of three-dimensional silicon tapers
Author(s) -
Anita Sure,
Thomas E. Dillon,
Janusz Murakowski,
Lin Chang-hu,
David M. Pustai,
Dennis W. Prather
Publication year - 2003
Publication title -
optics express
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.394
H-Index - 271
ISSN - 1094-4087
DOI - 10.1364/oe.11.003555
Subject(s) - fabrication , materials science , electron beam lithography , optics , wafer , lithography , optoelectronics , etching (microfabrication) , silicon , stack (abstract data type) , coupling (piping) , deep reactive ion etching , resist , reactive ion etching , nanotechnology , medicine , alternative medicine , physics , layer (electronics) , pathology , computer science , metallurgy , programming language
We present the fabrication of 3D adiabatically tapered structures, for efficient coupling from an optical fiber, or free-space, to a chip. These structures are fabricated integrally with optical waveguides in a silicon-on-insulator wafer. Fabrication involves writing a single grayscale mask in HEBS glass with a high-energy electron beam, ultra-violet grayscale lithography, and inductively coupled plasma etching. We also present the experimentally determined coupling efficiencies of the fabricated tapers using end-fire coupling. The design parameters of the tapered structures are based on electromagnetic simulations and are discussed in this paper.