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Fabrication Process Development for Optical Channel Waveguides in Sputtered Aluminum Nitride
Soheila Mardani1, Bjorn Jongebloed1,2, Ward A P M Hendriks2
1Integrated Optical Systems (IOS) Group, MESA+ Institute for Nanotechnology, University of Twente, 7500AE Enschede, The Netherlands.
Micromachines
|November 27, 2025
Summary
Aluminum nitride (AlN) thin films were fabricated for integrated photonics. Optimized processing achieved low propagation losses in AlN optical waveguides, demonstrating potential for advanced photonic devices.
Area of Science:
- Materials Science
- Optoelectronics
- Semiconductor Physics
Background:
- Aluminum nitride (AlN) is a wide-bandgap semiconductor with UV-Vis-MIR transparency.
- Its properties make it suitable for integrated photonics applications.
- Challenges exist in processing AlN due to oxidation sensitivity.
Purpose of the Study:
- To develop a microfabrication process for AlN optical channel waveguides.
- To reduce propagation losses in AlN slab waveguides through annealing.
- To characterize the performance of AlN waveguides using microring resonators.
Main Methods:
- Reactive RF sputtering for AlN thin film deposition.
- Annealing at 600 °C in a nitrogen atmosphere.
- Prism coupling and microring resonator (MRR) fabrication for loss characterization.
Main Results:
- Reduced slab waveguide propagation loss to 0.84 dB/cm at 978 nm after annealing.
- Fabricated MRRs achieved a quality factor of 12,000.
- Channel waveguides exhibited a propagation loss of 4.4 dB/cm at 1510-1515 nm.
Conclusions:
- The developed microfabrication process enables AlN optical channel waveguide realization.
- Identified dominant loss mechanisms and proposed optimization strategies.
- AlN is a viable material for integrated photonic circuits with further process refinement.
