Silicon-on-nitride waveguides for mid- and near-infrared integrated photonics

Silicon-on-nitride ridge waveguides are demonstrated and characterized at mid-and near-infrared optical wavelengths. Silicon-on-nitride thin films were achieved by bonding a silicon handling die to a silicon-on-insulator die coated with a low-stress silicon nitride layer. Subsequent removal of the silicon-on-insulator substrate results in a thin film of silicon on a nitride bottom cladding, readily available for waveguide fabrication. At the mid-infrared wavelength of 3.39 mu m, the fabricated waveguides have a propagation loss of 5.2 +/- 0.6 dB/cm and 5.1 +/- 0.6 dB/cm for the transverse-electric and transverse-magnetic modes, respectively. (C) 2013 American Institute of Physics. [http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.4798557]