Fabrication of hollow waveguides with sacrificial aluminum cores

被引:40
作者
Barber, JP [1 ]
Conkey, DB
Lee, JR
Hubbard, NB
Howell, LL
Yin, DL
Schmidt, H
Hawkins, AR
机构
[1] Brigham Young Univ, Dept Elect & Comp Engn, Provo, UT 84602 USA
[2] Brigham Young Univ, Dept Engn Mech, Provo, UT 84602 USA
[3] Univ Calif Santa Cruz, Sch Engn, Santa Cruz, CA 95064 USA
关键词
fabrication; micromachining; photonic crystals; waveguides;
D O I
10.1109/LPT.2004.839446
中图分类号
TM [电工技术]; TN [电子技术、通信技术];
学科分类号
0808 ; 0809 ;
摘要
We have developed a process to fabricate dielectric waveguide structures with long hollow cores formed by etching a sacrificial core material. The process is compatible with other planar silicon fabrication techniques. Using aluminum as the sacrificial material, we have investigated fabrication limits and design parameters that determine mechanical integrity of the waveguides. Internal pressure due to the production of gaseous compounds during the core removal process was identified as the yield-limiting factor. A mechanical model based on finite element analysis and confirmed by experiment, predicts ultimate pressures sustainable by these structures. Waveguides less than 10 pm wide with 2-mum-thick coatings should sustain 50 MPa of internal pressure. Low-loss guided-mode propagation in optical waveguides based on these hollow cores is demonstrated.
引用
收藏
页码:363 / 365
页数:3
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