Low-noise Kerr frequency comb generation with low temperature deuterated silicon nitride waveguides

We report very low-loss deuterated silicon nitride (SiNx:D) micro-ring resonators fabricated by back-end CMOS compatible low-temperature plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) without annealing. Strong confinement micro-ring resonators with a quality factor of > 2 million are achieved, corresponding to a propagation loss in the 1460-1610 nm wavelength range of similar to 0.17 dB/cm. We further report the generation of low-noise coherent Kerr microcomb states including different perfect soliton crystals (PSC) in PECVD SiNx:D micro-ring resonators. These results manifest the promising potential of the back-end CMOS compatible SiNx:D platform for linear and nonlinear photonic circuits that can be co-integrated with electronics. (C) 2021 Optical Society of America under the terms of the OSA Open Access Publishing Agreement

Automated summary

This study presents low-loss deuterated silicon nitride micro-ring resonators fabricated using back-end CMOS technology, achieving strong confinement micro-ring resonators with quality factors above 2 million without the need for annealing. Furthermore, the generation of low-noise coherent Kerr microcomb states in these resonators demonstrates their potential for linear and nonlinear photonic circuits that can be co-integrated with electronic devices.