Repository logo

Infoscience

  • English
  • French
Log In
Logo EPFL, École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne

Infoscience

  • English
  • French
Log In
  1. Home
  2. Academic and Research Output
  3. Journal articles
  4. High-yield, wafer-scale fabrication of ultralow-loss, dispersion-engineered silicon nitride photonic circuits
 
research article

High-yield, wafer-scale fabrication of ultralow-loss, dispersion-engineered silicon nitride photonic circuits

Liu, Junqiu  
•
Huang, Guanhao  
•
Wang, Rui Ning  
Show more
April 16, 2021
Nature Communications

Low-loss photonic integrated circuits and microresonators have enabled a wide range of applications, such as narrow-linewidth lasers and chip-scale frequency combs. To translate these into a widespread technology, attaining ultralow optical losses with established foundry manufacturing is critical. Recent advances in integrated Si3N4 photonics have shown that ultralow-loss, dispersion-engineered microresonators with quality factors Q>10x10(6) can be attained at die-level throughput. Yet, current fabrication techniques do not have sufficiently high yield and performance for existing and emerging applications, such as integrated travelling-wave parametric amplifiers that require meter-long photonic circuits. Here we demonstrate a fabrication technology that meets all requirements on wafer-level yield, performance and length scale. Photonic microresonators with a mean Q factor exceeding 30x10(6), corresponding to 1.0 dBm(-1) optical loss, are obtained over full 4-inch wafers, as determined from a statistical analysis of tens of thousands of optical resonances, and confirmed via cavity ringdown with 19 ns photon storage time. The process operates over large areas with high yield, enabling 1-meter-long spiral waveguides with 2.4 dBm(-1) loss in dies of only 5x5 mm(2) size. Using a response measurement self-calibrated via the Kerr nonlinearity, we reveal that the intrinsic absorption-limited Q factor of our Si3N4 microresonators can exceed 2x10(8). This absorption loss is sufficiently low such that the Kerr nonlinearity dominates the microresonator's response even in the audio frequency band. Transferring this Si3N4 technology to commercial foundries can significantly improve the performance and capabilities of integrated photonics. For widespread technological application of nonlinear photonic integrated circuits, ultralow optical losses and high fabrication throughput are required. Here, the authors present a CMOS fabrication technique that realizes integrate photonic microresonators on waver-level with mean quality factors exceeding 30 million and 1 dB/m optical losses.

  • Files
  • Details
  • Metrics
Type
research article
DOI
10.1038/s41467-021-21973-z
Web of Science ID

WOS:000641845400001

Author(s)
Liu, Junqiu  
Huang, Guanhao  
Wang, Rui Ning  
He, Jijun  
Raja, Arslan S.
Liu, Tianyi  
Engelsen, Nils J.
Kippenberg, Tobias J.  
Date Issued

2021-04-16

Publisher

Nature Research

Published in
Nature Communications
Volume

12

Issue

1

Article Number

2236

Subjects

Multidisciplinary Sciences

•

Science & Technology - Other Topics

Editorial or Peer reviewed

REVIEWED

Written at

EPFL

EPFL units
LPQM  
Available on Infoscience
May 8, 2021
Use this identifier to reference this record
https://infoscience.epfl.ch/handle/20.500.14299/177865
Logo EPFL, École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne
  • Contact
  • infoscience@epfl.ch

  • Follow us on Facebook
  • Follow us on Instagram
  • Follow us on LinkedIn
  • Follow us on X
  • Follow us on Youtube
AccessibilityLegal noticePrivacy policyCookie settingsEnd User AgreementGet helpFeedback

Infoscience is a service managed and provided by the Library and IT Services of EPFL. © EPFL, tous droits réservés