State-of-the-art nanofabrication processes for manufacturing integrated photonic devices based on silicon nitride

用于制造基于氮化硅的集成光子器件的最先进的纳米加工工艺

• 批准号: 530034-2018
• 负责人: Chaker, Mohamed
• 金额: $ 11.66万
• 依托单位: Institut national de la recherche scientifique
• 依托单位国家: 加拿大
• 项目类别: Collaborative Research and Development Grants
• 财政年份: 2020
• 资助国家: 加拿大
• 起止时间: 2020-01-01 至 2021-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/ase-oro/Details-Detailles_eng.asp?id=697319
• 关键词: State; art; nanofabrication; processes; manufacturing

The photonic industry is following into the footsteps of microelectronic manufacturers by exploring how to increase the level of integration of optical products in order to reduce the cost of current optical interconnects. This has led to the development of silicon photonics, which takes advantage of the state-of-the-art fabrication processes and massive capital investment made by the microelectronic industry to produce affordable components. Implementing efficient optical functionalities with materials originally developed to build and package electronic circuits is challenging. To address this issue, AEPONYX is developing a microfabricated platform that combines integrated optical components based on silicon nitride with microelectromechanical systems (MEMS). Preliminary studies have clearly shown that the bottleneck of such a technology is related to the nanofabrication processes used for manufacturing these integrated photonic devices. In this context, the team composed of researchers from INRS, UQAM and AEPONYX proposes to push the limits of nanofabrication technologies (electron beam lithography and nanometer pattern transfer) in order to (i) control the critical dimensions and the sidewall profiles of integrated photonic devices at the nanoscale level, (ii) minimize the sidewall roughness of the waveguides, and (iii) develop a robust and reliable nanofabrication process at the lowest cost. Validation of such an optimized nanofabrication process will be performed by manufacturing dense wavelength division multiplexing (DWDM) filters arranged in an 8-channel wavelength selective optical filter insensitive to polarization and compatible with the wavelength channel allocation specified in the ITU G.989.2 NG-PON2 standard. The results of the investigation performed in the proposed project will directly impact the quality and the pace at which products based on MEMS and integrated optics will be able to be mass manufactured by AEPONYX and its industrial collaborators C2MI, Teledyne Dalsa and IBM.

光子产业正在跟随微电子制造商的脚步，探索如何提高光学产品的集成度，以降低当前光学互连的成本。这导致了硅光子学的发展，它利用微电子工业最先进的制造工艺和大量的资本投资来生产负担得起的组件。利用最初开发用于构建和封装电子电路的材料实现高效的光学功能是一项挑战。为了解决这个问题，AEPONYX正在开发一种微加工平台，将基于氮化硅的集成光学元件与微机电系统（MEMS）相结合。初步研究清楚地表明，这种技术的瓶颈与用于制造这些集成光子器件的纳米纤维工艺有关。在这种情况下，由INRS，UQAM和AEPONYX的研究人员组成的团队建议推动纳米纤维技术的极限（电子束光刻和纳米图案转移），以便（i）在纳米级水平上控制集成光子器件的临界尺寸和侧壁轮廓，（ii）最小化波导的侧壁粗糙度，以及（iii）以最低的成本开发稳健且可靠的纳米纤维工艺。这种优化的纳米光纤工艺的验证将通过制造密集波分复用（DWDM）滤波器来执行，该密集波分复用（DWDM）滤波器布置在对偏振不敏感的8通道波长选择性光学滤波器中，并且与ITU G.989.2 NG-PON 2标准中指定的波长通道分配兼容。在拟议项目中进行的调查结果将直接影响基于MEMS和集成光学的产品的质量和速度，这些产品将能够由AEPONYX及其工业合作伙伴C2MI，Teledyne Dalsa和IBM大规模生产。