Transparent amorphous silicon channel waveguides and high-Q resonators using a damascene process
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Updated: Jun 21, 2026
Fabrication and Characterization of High-Q Silicon Nitride Membrane Resonators
Published on: August 8, 2025
Rong Sun1, Jing Cheng, Jurgen Michel
1Department of Materials Science and Engineering, MIT Microphotonic Center, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, USA. rsun@mit.edu
Abstract:
We demonstrate a damascene process for fabricating amorphous silicon (a-Si), single-mode optical channel waveguides and high-Q racetrack resonators. This process is compatible with thermal budget limitations for a-Si phase stability. It offers improved optical transmission and facilitates hydrogen encapsulation for process integration of a-Si waveguide cores. At 1,550 nm, the average measured transmission loss coefficient is 2.5+/-0.1 dB/cm for the TE mode, comparable with high-quality single crystalline silicon counterparts. The racetrack resonators have mid-10(4) to 10(5) quality factors (Q) and extinction ratios as high as 25 dB.
