Reactive ion etching of tellurite and chalcogenide waveguides using hydrogen, methane, and argon*

The authors report in detail on the reactive plasma etching properties of tellurium and demonstrate a high quality etching process using hydrogen, methane, and argon. Very low loss planar ridge waveguides are demonstrated. Optical losses in tellurium dioxide waveguides below 0.1 dB/cm in most of the near infrared region of the electromagnetic spectrum and at 1550 nm have been achieved—the lowest ever reported by more than an order of magnitude and clearly suitable for planar integrated devices. The etch process is also shown to be suitable for chalcogenide glasses which may be of importance in applications such as phase change memory devices and nonlinear integrated optics. © 2011 American Vacuum Society. DOI: 10.1116/1.3528248