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http://hdl.handle.net/11375/28042
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DC Field | Value | Language |
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dc.contributor.advisor | Bradley, Jonathan | - |
dc.contributor.author | Bonneville, Dawson | - |
dc.date.accessioned | 2022-10-24T19:50:26Z | - |
dc.date.available | 2022-10-24T19:50:26Z | - |
dc.date.issued | 2022 | - |
dc.identifier.uri | http://hdl.handle.net/11375/28042 | - |
dc.description.abstract | The variety of photonic materials required to address the needs of the expanding market and application space for photonic integrated circuits (PICs) is driving the need for widely applicable, reliable, versatile and scalable fabrication techniques. Working with materials that are compatible with Silicon (Si) allows for integration into foundry processing and large-scale integration, which is crucial for economic scaling. However, because Si is a poor emitter of light, this poses a challenge for the implementation of specific components such as monolithic optical amplifiers and lasers, which are needed for the next generation of telecommunication devices and sensors. For this reason, a variety of materials are required to address the growing demand for new functionalities in PICs, including on-chip passive components and optically active amplifiers and lasers. These materials include traditional silicon-compatible materials such as silicon nitride (Si3N4), and less mature materials such as rare-earth doped oxides including aluminium oxide (Al2O3) and tellurium dioxide (TeO2). To process the different materials and fabricate waveguides for a variety of platforms, circuit architectures and applications, it is advantageous to develop robust, versatile, and economic solutions to prepare for a changing and growing industry. This thesis presents a variety of fabrication techniques and protocols to achieve high optical quality materials and waveguides through thin film deposition and patterning, and demonstrates the realization of an optical amplifier and a protein sensor in an erbium-ytterbium co-doped Al2O3 (Al2O3:Er3+:Yb3+) waveguide and a poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA)/TeO2-Si distributed Bragg reflector cavity, respectively. The objectives of this thesis are to demonstrate low-loss silicon nitride films using plasma-enhanced chemical vapour deposition (PECVD), to develop a controllable process for waveguide device fabrication using UV writing, to demonstrate optical gain in Er3+:Yb3+:Al2O3 waveguide amplifiers fabricated with wet-etching, and to demonstrate biological sensing on Si chips which are capable of rare-earth integration. Chapter 1 introduces background literature on photonic integrated circuits and provides an overview and comparison of various film deposition and patterning techniques, including those explored in this work. Chapter 2 includes details on the background and theory of waveguides, provides a guide and process to designing waveguides for different mode properties, materials and devices, and introduces the relevant theory for optical amplifiers and photonic biological sensors. Chapter 3 demonstrates a recipe and process for the deposition of silicon nitride films using PECVD at 140 °C and 1.5 mTorr, which shows partially hydrogenated, and non-stoichiometric SiOxNy:Hz films with optical propagation losses as low as 1.3, 0.3 and 1.5 ± 0.1 dB/cm at 638, 980 and 1550 nm respectively, without heat treatment. Chapter 4 presents UV laser writing in negative photoresist as a procedure for prototyping waveguides in Si3N4. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) was used to analyze feature and gap control, and dry plasma etching was used to realize optical devices such as a directional coupler, Sagnac interferometer, and ring resonator, which demonstrate 50/50 coupling at 1510 nm, 20 dB transmission drop at 1580 nm, and a Q factor of ~13,000 at 1576 nm, respectively. Chapter 5 reports on the deposition and patterning of Al2O3:Er3+:Yb3+ waveguides using reactive co-sputtering and wet chemical etching, with internal net gain of 4.3 ± 0.9 dB at 1533 nm for a 3.0 cm long waveguide when pumped at 970 nm. Chapter 6 presents a hybrid Si-TeO2 Bragg waveguide sensing platform with plasma functionalized PMMA for biological attachment. Thermal, water and protein sensing were performed leading to a sensitivity of 0.13 nm/°C, limit of detection of 5.9 ×10–3 RIU, and a 1.6 nm shift after incubation with 2 μg/mL BSA diluted in PBS with subsequent recovery of the sensor for reuse after stripping. Chapter 7 summarizes the thesis and provides pathways towards optimizing current and future work. | en_US |
dc.language.iso | en | en_US |
dc.title | Low-cost and versatile fabrication of silicon-compatible photonic integrated circuits for active devices and sensors | en_US |
dc.type | Thesis | en_US |
dc.contributor.department | Engineering Physics | en_US |
dc.description.degreetype | Thesis | en_US |
dc.description.degree | Doctor of Engineering (DEng) | en_US |
Appears in Collections: | Open Access Dissertations and Theses |
Files in This Item:
File | Description | Size | Format | |
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Bonneville_Dawson_B_202207_PhD.pdf | 4.74 MB | Adobe PDF | View/Open |
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