Optical properties of nanostructured silicon-rich silicon dioxide

We have conducted a study of the optical properties of sputtered silicon-rich silicon dioxide (SRO) thin films with specific application for the fabrication of erbium-doped waveguide amplifiers and lasers, polarization sensitive devices and devices to modify the polarization state of light. The SRO thin films were prepared through a reactive RF magnetron sputtering from a Si target in an O2/Ar gas mixture. The film stoichiometry was controlled by varying the power applied to the Si target or changing the percentage of 02 in the gas mixture. A deposition model is presented which incorporates the physical and chemical aspects of the sputtering process to predict the film stoichiometry and deposition rate for variable deposition conditions. The as-deposited films are optically anisotropic with a positive birefringence (nTM > nTE) that increases with increasing silicon content for as-deposited films. The dependence of the birefringence on annealing temperature is also influenced by the silicon content. After annealing, samples with high silicon content (>45 at%) showed birefringence enhancement while samples with low silicon content (<45 at%) showed birefringence reduction. A birefringence of more than 3% can be generated in films with high silicon content (50 at% Si) annealed at 11000C.

Department dc:contributor.department

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Materials Science and Engineering.

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2006

Author dc:creator

• Stolfi, Michael Anthony

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Lionel C. Kimerling and John R. Haavisto.

• Materials Science and Engineering.

Statement dc:rights

• M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/37583

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/37583