Deuterated silicon nitride photonic devices for broadband optical frequency comb generation

We report and characterize low-temperature, plasma-deposited deuterated silicon nitride films for nonlinear integrated photonics. With a peak processing temperature less than 300 degrees C, it is back-end compatible with complementary metal-oxide semiconductor substrates. We achieve microresonators with a quality factor of up to 1.6 x 10(6) at 1552 nm and >1.2 x 10(6) throughout lambda = 1510-1600 nm, without annealing or stress management (film thickness of 920 nm). We then demonstrate the immediate utility of this platform in nonlinear photonics by generating a 1 THz free-spectral-range, 900 nm bandwidth modulation-instability microresonator Kerr comb and octave-spanning, supercontinuum-broadened spectra.