Open AccessGold Stripe Optical Waveguides Fabricated by a Novel Double‐Layered Liftoff Process
Author(s) -
Kim Jin Tae,
Park Suntak,
Park Seung Koo,
Kim Minsu,
Lee MyungHyun,
Ju Jung Jin
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
etri journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.295
H-Index - 46
eISSN - 2233-7326
pISSN - 1225-6463
DOI - 10.4218/etrij.09.1209.0042
Subject(s) - photoresist , photolithography , materials science , fabrication , cladding (metalworking) , optoelectronics , etching (microfabrication) , waveguide , layer (electronics) , dry etching , resist , lithography , process (computing) , optics , nanotechnology , computer science , composite material , medicine , alternative medicine , physics , pathology , operating system
To fabricate uniform and reliable thin gold stripes that provide low‐loss optical waveguides, we developed a novel liftoff process placing an additional SiN x layer under conventional photoresists. By patterning a photoresist and over‐etching the SiNx, the photoresist patterns become free‐standing structures on a lower‐cladding. This leads to uniform metal stripes with good reproducibility and effectively removes parasitic structures on the edge of the metal stripe in the image reversal photolithography process. By applying the newly developed process to polymer‐based gold stripe waveguide fabrication, we improved the propagation losses about two times compared with that incurred by the conventional image‐reversal process.