Development and fabrication of an optimized thermo-electro-optic device using a Mach-Zehnder interferometer


Autoria(s): MINA, A. M.; Medina, Hector Baez; MARTINS, G. S. P.; Chávez, Marco Isaías Alayo
Contribuinte(s)

UNIVERSIDADE DE SÃO PAULO

Data(s)

18/10/2012

18/10/2012

2008

Resumo

The development and fabrication of a thermo-electro-optic sensor using a Mach-Zehnder interferometer and a resistive micro-heater placed in one of the device`s arms is presented. The Mach-Zehnder structure was fabricated on a single crystal silicon substrate using silicon oxynitride and amorphous hydrogenated silicon carbide films to form an anti-resonant reflective optical waveguide. The materials were deposited by Plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition technique at low temperatures (similar to 320 degrees C). To optimize the heat transfer and increase the device response with current variation, part of the Mach-Zehnder sensor arm was suspended through front-side bulk micromachining of the silicon substrate in a KOH solution. With the temperature variation caused by the micro-heater, the refractive index of the core layer of the optical waveguide changes due to the thermo-optic effect. Since this variation occurs only in one of the Mach-Zehnder`s arm, a phase difference between the arms is produced, leading to electromagnetic interference. In this way, the current applied to the micro-resistor can control the device output optical power. Further, reactive ion etching technique was used in this work to define the device`s geometry, and a study of SF6 based etching rates on different composition of silicon oxynitride films is also presented. (C) 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Identificador

JOURNAL OF NON-CRYSTALLINE SOLIDS, v.354, n.19-25, p.2565-2570, 2008

0022-3093

http://producao.usp.br/handle/BDPI/18654

10.1016/j.jnoncrysol.2007.09.117

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jnoncrysol.2007.09.117

Idioma(s)

eng

Publicador

ELSEVIER SCIENCE BV

Relação

Journal of Non-crystalline Solids

Direitos

restrictedAccess

Copyright ELSEVIER SCIENCE BV

Palavras-Chave #sensors #planar waveguides #plasma deposition #optical properties #SILICON OXYNITRIDE #TEMPERATURE SENSOR #WAVE-GUIDES #PECVD #DEPOSITION #Materials Science, Ceramics #Materials Science, Multidisciplinary
Tipo

article

proceedings paper

publishedVersion