Sol-gel channel waveguide on silicon: fast direct imprinting and low cost fabrication

Development of integrated optical devices depends on the possibility to realize them for the lowest cost. In this paper we present an improved technique based on the sol-gel process enabling to fabricate low loss (<0.1 dB/cm) channel waveguides for use in the 1.55 mu m telecommunication window. The channel waveguides are directly imprinted in a reduced time, thanks to an improved sol synthesis. This enables a precise control of the geometries of the three-dimensional waveguides. Moreover the production cost is diminished. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science B.V.