Fabrication and characterization of materials and structures for hybrid organic–inorganic photonics

Hybrid organic–inorganic integrated photonics integrate the organic material, as a part of active layer, with inorganic structure, and it is the organic component that extends the functionalities as compared to inorganic photonics. This paper presents the results of fabrication and characterization of inorganic and organic layers, as well as of hybrid organic–inorganic structures. Inorganic oxide and nitride materials and structures were grown using plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition. As a substrate for tested organic layers and for preparation of multilayer structures, commercially available SiO2 created by thermal oxidation on Si was used. The hybrid organic–inorganic structures were prepared by spin coating of organic materials on SiO2/Si inorganic structures. As the basic photonics devices, the testing strip inorganic and organic waveguides were fabricated using reactive ion etching. The shape of fabricated testing waveguides was trapezoidal and etched structures were able to guide the radiation. The presented technology enabled to prepare hybrid organic–inorganic structures of comparable dimensions and shape. The fabricated waveguides dimensions and shape will be used for optimisation and design of new lithographic mask to prepare photonic components with required characteristics.