Optimizing fabrication techniques of materials and devices for integrated nanophotonics
Date
2019
Authors
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Publisher
University of Delaware
Abstract
Photonics is a branch of science which deals with the manipulation of light (“photons”) and has been growing exponentially in the last few decades due to the increased demands for faster data transfer, larger bandwidth, lower loss, lesser power requirement etc. To make these photonic devices we need to fabricate different active and passive device components. In this thesis, we have described the fabrication methodology and optimization techniques for such different photonic components. The thesis also discussed about different materials which find application in photonic devices. ☐ We discuss the importance of Silicon photonics and discuss the fabrication of different components namely waveguides, diffraction grating couplers, micro-ring resonators and photonic crystal waveguides. We explain in detail the process flow of fabrication of these components and the various challenges involved in each case. We also explain the methodology to overcome these problems and discuss optimization methods to improve the device quality. We characterize the quality of these components using loss analysis and performance measurements. We have explored the possibility of using amorphous silicon instead of crystalline silicon in photonics and tried understanding the limitations and possible ways to overcome them. We have also extended our study to bulk chalcogenides namely germanium antimony telluride (GST) by physical vapor deposition and indium selenide by exfoliation methods as materials having different applications in photonic industry. Beyond silicon we have extended our work to explore possibilities of two dimensional (2D) materials like graphene and organic materials in photonics. Some advanced applications are highlighted, the details of which will be reported in our future work.