Fabrication of autocloned photonic crystals by using high-density-plasma chemical vapor deposition

The high-density-plasma chemical vapor deposition (HDP-CVD) method was demonstrated as an alternative to radio-frequency (rf) bias sputtering method for fabrication of "autocloned" photonic crystals. We successfully preserved periodic surface corrugation after deposition of multilayer stacks under appropriate chemical vapor deposition conditions. Freedom of the shaping process was increased by simply raising the bias power of the autocloning process, and thus created autocloned structures having a strong modulation of the effective refractive index in the lateral direction. The method allows photonic bands of autocloned photonic crystals to be designed with greater controllability and a simpler fabrication process. Furthermore. the HDP-CVD method has better step-coverage than the sputtering method and can be used to fabricate autocloning structures with small feature-sizes. (C) 2004 American Vacuum Society.