Improved fabrication of scalable hybrid silicon nitride–thin-film lithium niobate electro-optic modulators
Abstract
Strategies for improved fabrication of integrated thin-film lithium niobate electro-optic (EO) Mach–Zehnder modulators (MZMs) are reported using scalable processes and designs. The MZM devices utilize direct bonding of unetched and unpatterned thin-film lithium niobate to patterned and planarized silicon photonic microchips. The latter contains silicon nitride waveguide structures of various widths that are used to form hybrid modes that are suitable for high-bandwidth low-voltage EO modulators based on Pockels effect. We report that the incorporation of appropriately designed outgassing channels and certain modifications to key processing steps helped achieve a greater than 99% reduction in void density during bonding. Void reduction is critically important for these traveling-wave hybrid MZM devices in which the optical mode is controllably distributed between multiple thin layers and propagates over millimeter-scale lengths.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Pub Defense Publication
- Publication Date
- Feb 27, 2023
- Source ID
- 10.1364/josab.481915
Entities
People
- Forrest Valdez
- Shayan Mookherjea
- Viphretuo Mere
Organizations
- Federal Government of the United States
- National Science Foundation
- Office of Naval Research
- Sandia National Laboratories
- United States Department of Defense
- University of California, San Diego