Fabrication of SOI photonic crystal slabs by soft UV-nanoimprint lithography
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FabricationofSOIphotoniccrystalslabsbysoft
UV-nanoimprintlithography
MicheleBelottia,b,*,Je´re´miTorresa,EmmanuelRoya,AnnePe´pina,DarioGeraceb,
LucioC.Andreanib,MatteoGallib,c,YongChena
aLaboratoiredePhotoniqueetdeNanostructures,CentreNationaldelaRechercheScientifique,RoutedeNozay,91460Marcoussis,FrancebDipartimentodiFisica‘‘A.Volta’’,Universita`degliStudidiPavia,ViaBassi6,27100Pavia,ItalycIstitutoNazionalediFisicadellaMateria,ViaBassi6,27100Pavia,Italy
Availableonline25January2006
Abstract
SoftimprintinglithographyassistedbyUVlight(softUV-NIL)takesadvantageofboth,UV-nanoimprintandsoftlithography.Thistechnique,whichcanbeappliedforthereplicationofnanometersizefeaturesoverlargeareas,issuitableforthepatterningofnano-structureslikephotoniccrystalswithhighthroughputandhighaccuracy.Inthiswork,wedemonstratethefabricationoftwodimen-sionalsilicon-on-insulatorphotoniccrystalslabswithandwithoutlinedefectsbyusingsoftUV-NIL.Measurementofphotonicmodedispersionbymeansofvariableanglereflectanceassessesthequalityofthefabricatedsamples.Ó2006PublishedbyElsevierB.V.
Keywords:Photoniccrystals;Nanoimprintlithography;SoftUVlithography
1.Introduction
Photoniccrystals(PhC)areartificialnanostructures
whichcancontrolthepropagationoflightinaveryeffi-
cientway.Aphotoniccrystalisastructuredmaterial
whosedielectricconstantexhibitstranslationsymmetry
withaperiodicityonthewavelengthscale.Periodicallypat-
ternedplanarwaveguides,alsoknownasPhCslabs,are
emergingassomeofthebestperformingstructuresfor
thecontroloflightpropagationinthreedimensions(3D)
[1–4].Thisisachievedbymeansofatwodimensional
(2D)photoniclatticeembeddedinaplanarwaveguide
exploitingthetotalinternalreflectionwithintheslab[5].
LineardefectsinPhCslabsintroducedefectmodesinthe
photonicbandgapandsupportthepropagationoflight
alongthedefectdirection.Acommonsystemisrealised
inatriangularlatticeofholes,byremovingarowofholes
alongtheC-Ksymmetrydirection:wethusobtaintheso-
calledW1defectwaveguide.Inordertoenhancethisbehaviour,highdielectriccontrastbetweencoreandclad-
dingsisrequired.Forthisreasonandalsoforcomplete
compatibilitywithCMOSmaterialsandprocesses,sili-
con-on-insulator(SOI)patternedwaveguidesareidealcan-
didatesinordertorealiseplanarintegratedphotonic
devices.
2.Samplepreparation
Thefabricationofnanoscalediffractiveopticelements
suchasPhCrequireshighlyaccurateandreproduciblenan-
olithographytechniques.Forthesereasons,PhChave
mostlybeenfabricatedviaelectronbeamlithography
(EBL).However,EBLisanexpensivetime-consuming
direct-writingtechnique,whichisnotsuitableformass
production.Incontrast,non-conventionallowcostfabri-
cationmethodssuchasnanoimprintlithographyhave
shownhigh-resolutionandlarge-scaleproductionpotenti-
alities[6–11].
Recently,thehighresolutioncapabilityofUV-imprint
lithographyhasbeendemonstratedbyusingatransparent
stampmadefromhardmaterial,typicallyquartz,onliquid
0167-9317/$-seefrontmatterÓ2006PublishedbyElsevierB.V.
doi:10.1016/j.mee.2005.12.025*Correspondingauthor.Tel.:+39169636125.E-mailaddress:michele.belotti@lpn.cnrs.fr(M.Belotti).www.elsevier.com/locate/meeUV-curablepolymers[12].Thistechniquealsograntsthe
possibilitytoalignopticallythesysteminaneasyway
throughthetransparentmould.Itisalsopossibletouse
astep-and-repeatstrategytocoveralargewaferarea.
Alternatively,one-stepimprintingcanbepossibleovera
largearea,usingasoftstampandsuitableresistconfigura-
tions.Typically,alayerofpolydimethylsiloxane(PDMS),
anelastomeroflowYoung’smodulus,isusedtoobtain
highqualitysoft-stamps,whichconformtolargesurfaces.
However,theresolutionandpatterndefinitionachievable
withasinglelayerPDMSstamparelimitedduetosoft
stampdeformationunderthepressuregradientapplied
onthemold.Lateraldeformationcanmodifythelattice
periodicityofthePhC.Inordertoovercomethisproblem,
wehaveproposedamulti-layerstampconfiguration,which
consistsofarigidtoplayerforpatterning,asoftPDMS
bufferlayerandaglassplatecarrier[13].Therigidimprint-
inglayerofferslocalstiffnesswhiletheelastomericinterme-
diatelayerensureslargeareaconformability.Forthetop
layerwehavechosenpoly(methylmethacrylate)(PMMA)
whichpresentsahighYoung’smodulus(G=5.2GPa).
Tofabricatethetri-layerstamps,wehavedevelopedthe
processpresentedinFig.1.First,themastermoldpatterns
(showninstep1ofFig.1)weredefinedinPMMAresistby
usingastandard50keVelectronbeamlithographysystem.
A20-nm-thickfilmofNiwasdepositedafterresistdevel-
opment.Afterlift-off,patternsweretransferredintosilicon
byanisotropicSF6/CHF3reactiveionetching(RIE)ina
NextralNE110reactor,resultingin200nmfeatureswith
a250-nmetchdepth.Finally,thesurfaceofthefabricated
siliconmoldwastreatedwithtrimethylchlorosilane
(TMCS)bychemicalvapourdeposition(CVD)which
formsaself-assemblingmonolayertopreventadhesion
problems.ThePhCpatternistypicallyatriangulartwo-