Silicon CMOS BEOL Compatible Optical Waveguide Micro-mirrors

Optical waveguides are being explored for on-chip purposes to overcome the speed limitations of electrical interconnects. Passive optical components like waveguides and vertical outcouplers are important components in such schemes. In this study we fabricate planar waveguides with integrated vertical micro-mirrors using standard Back End of the Line silicon (BEOL) CMOS based processes. Around 1.6 μm of a hybrid alkoxy siloxane polymer with a refractive index of ∼ 1.50 at the intended wavelength of 830 nm is used as the core and plasma deposited silicon oxide with a refractive index of ∼ 1.46 is used as the cladding. The angular face in the polymer waveguide that would function as the mirror surface was fabricated by a pattern transfer method which involves transferring the angle in a template to the waveguide using anisotropic reactive ion etching. The sidewall angle realized in a positive resist on patterning was used as the angle template. Exposure and development conditions were adjusted for Shipley® S1813 photoresist to generate a sidewall angle of ∼ 65°. The anisotropic Reactive Ion Etching (RIE) was done using a CF4/O2 plasma chemistry. A gas composition of 50/50 CF4/O2 was chosen in order to minimize the etch related roughness of the polymer and the photoresist. The metallization of the mirror faces was done using a self-aligned maskless technique which ensures metal deposition only on the angular face and also eliminates a lithography step.