Progress Toward Thin-Film LiNbO3 Waveguides on GaAs

Abstract

AbstractThe availability of epitaxial ferroelectric films on semiconductor substrates would open up many options for integrated optics technology. There are significant materials issues involved in achieving this integration and we will report on progress toward optical waveguide fabrication on GaAs substrates. As a first step, we are investigating the fabrication of z-LiNbO3 waveguides on A12O3-c. The films have been deposited by off-axis rf magnetron sputtering and characterized by x-ray diffraction, atomic force microscopy, and scanning electron microscopies. Prism coupling has been used to determine waveguide thickness, indices of refraction and propogation losses. Issues concerning crystallography, texture, composition, surface roughness and processing will be discussed.