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-