Plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition of low-loss SiON optical waveguides at 15-microm wavelength.

Good optical-quality SiON layers deposited upon a SiO(2) buffer layer placed upon silicon wafers have been obtained by using plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition from SiH(4), NH(3), and N(2)O. Optical planar waveguides with a thickness of 5 microm and a refractive index of 1.470 have been deposited and investigated in the wavelength region of 1.3-1.6 microm. Three absorption bands at 1.40, 1.48, and 1.54 microm have been detected and interpreted as Si-OH, N-H, and Si-H vibrational modes, respectively. Absorption losses of 3.8 dB/cm at 1.4 microm and 3.2 dB/cm at 1.51 microm have been measured. A mild annealing at approximately 800 degrees C completely removes the band at 1.40 microm, whereas strong reduction of absorption at 1.51 microm requires 3 h of annealing at 1100 degrees C. As a result, propagation losses of 0.36 to 0.54 dB/cm have been measured at 1.54-microm wavelength.