Selective area MOVPE growth of two-dimensional photonic crystals having an air-hole array and its application to air-bridge-type structures

We describe a novel fabrication method of two-dimensional photonic crystals (2DPCs) by using selective area metal-organic vapor-phase epitaxial (SA-MOVPE) growth on (111)B masked substrates and its application to air-bridge-type structures with selective wet-chemical etching. This method is very promising as a way to form semiconductor 2DPCs because a PC membrane without process-induced damages can be obtained. To form uniform PC membranes having an air-hole array, we investigated the properties of SA-MOVPE regrowth on sub-micron-pitch masked substrates, We found that the optimum growth conditions strongly depend on the width of the GaAs opening as well as the pitch of the 2DPCs. An air-bridge structure having 250-nm-pitch 2DPC was also demonstrated by using a combination of SA-MOVPE regrowth and selective wet-chemical undercut etching. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.