Scalable Chemical Vapor Deposition of Silicon Carbide Thin Films for Photonic Integrated Circuit Applications
Highly integrable silicon carbide (SiC) has emerged as a promising platform for photonic integrated circuits (PICs), offering a comprehensive set of material and optical properties that are ideal for the integration of nonlinear devices and solid-state quantum defects. However, despite significant p...
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2025-08-01
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| author | Souryaya Dutta Alex Kaloyeros Animesh Nanaware Spyros Gallis |
| author_facet | Souryaya Dutta Alex Kaloyeros Animesh Nanaware Spyros Gallis |
| author_sort | Souryaya Dutta |
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| description | Highly integrable silicon carbide (SiC) has emerged as a promising platform for photonic integrated circuits (PICs), offering a comprehensive set of material and optical properties that are ideal for the integration of nonlinear devices and solid-state quantum defects. However, despite significant progress in nanofabrication technology, the development of SiC on an insulator (SiCOI)-based photonics faces challenges due to fabrication-induced material optical losses and complex processing steps. An alternative approach to mitigate these fabrication challenges is the direct deposition of amorphous SiC on an insulator (a-SiCOI). However, there is a lack of systematic studies aimed at producing high optical quality a-SiC thin films, and correspondingly, on evaluating and determining their optical properties in the telecom range. To this end, we have studied a single-source precursor, 1,3,5-trisilacyclohexane (TSCH, C<sub>3</sub>H<sub>12</sub>Si<sub>3</sub>), and chemical vapor deposition (CVD) processes for the deposition of SiC thin films in a low-temperature range (650–800 °C) on a multitude of different substrates. We have successfully demonstrated the fabrication of smooth, uniform, and stoichiometric a-SiCOI thin films of 20 nm to 600 nm with a highly controlled growth rate of ~0.5 Å/s and minimal surface roughness of ~5 Å. Spectroscopic ellipsometry and resonant micro-photoluminescence excitation spectroscopy and mapping reveal a high index of refraction (~2.7) and a minimal absorption coefficient (<200 cm<sup>−1</sup>) in the telecom C-band, demonstrating the high optical quality of the films. These findings establish a strong foundation for scalable production of high-quality a-SiCOI thin films, enabling their application in advanced chip-scale telecom PIC technologies. |
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| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-08-01 |
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| spelling | doaj-art-f0b9c4e5c1c0470b830eaa9dacc485f02025-08-20T04:00:50ZengMDPI AGApplied Sciences2076-34172025-08-011515860310.3390/app15158603Scalable Chemical Vapor Deposition of Silicon Carbide Thin Films for Photonic Integrated Circuit ApplicationsSouryaya Dutta0Alex Kaloyeros1Animesh Nanaware2Spyros Gallis3Department of Nanoscale Science and Engineering, College of Nanotechnology, Science, and Engineering (CNSE), University at Albany (UAlbany), Albany, NY 12203, USADepartment of Nanoscale Science and Engineering, College of Nanotechnology, Science, and Engineering (CNSE), University at Albany (UAlbany), Albany, NY 12203, USADepartment of Nanoscale Science and Engineering, College of Nanotechnology, Science, and Engineering (CNSE), University at Albany (UAlbany), Albany, NY 12203, USADepartment of Nanoscale Science and Engineering, College of Nanotechnology, Science, and Engineering (CNSE), University at Albany (UAlbany), Albany, NY 12203, USAHighly integrable silicon carbide (SiC) has emerged as a promising platform for photonic integrated circuits (PICs), offering a comprehensive set of material and optical properties that are ideal for the integration of nonlinear devices and solid-state quantum defects. However, despite significant progress in nanofabrication technology, the development of SiC on an insulator (SiCOI)-based photonics faces challenges due to fabrication-induced material optical losses and complex processing steps. An alternative approach to mitigate these fabrication challenges is the direct deposition of amorphous SiC on an insulator (a-SiCOI). However, there is a lack of systematic studies aimed at producing high optical quality a-SiC thin films, and correspondingly, on evaluating and determining their optical properties in the telecom range. To this end, we have studied a single-source precursor, 1,3,5-trisilacyclohexane (TSCH, C<sub>3</sub>H<sub>12</sub>Si<sub>3</sub>), and chemical vapor deposition (CVD) processes for the deposition of SiC thin films in a low-temperature range (650–800 °C) on a multitude of different substrates. We have successfully demonstrated the fabrication of smooth, uniform, and stoichiometric a-SiCOI thin films of 20 nm to 600 nm with a highly controlled growth rate of ~0.5 Å/s and minimal surface roughness of ~5 Å. Spectroscopic ellipsometry and resonant micro-photoluminescence excitation spectroscopy and mapping reveal a high index of refraction (~2.7) and a minimal absorption coefficient (<200 cm<sup>−1</sup>) in the telecom C-band, demonstrating the high optical quality of the films. These findings establish a strong foundation for scalable production of high-quality a-SiCOI thin films, enabling their application in advanced chip-scale telecom PIC technologies.https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3417/15/15/8603silicon carbidethin filmchemical vapor depositionsingle-source precursorNIR absorptionphotoluminescence excitation spectroscopy |
| spellingShingle | Souryaya Dutta Alex Kaloyeros Animesh Nanaware Spyros Gallis Scalable Chemical Vapor Deposition of Silicon Carbide Thin Films for Photonic Integrated Circuit Applications Applied Sciences silicon carbide thin film chemical vapor deposition single-source precursor NIR absorption photoluminescence excitation spectroscopy |
| title | Scalable Chemical Vapor Deposition of Silicon Carbide Thin Films for Photonic Integrated Circuit Applications |
| title_full | Scalable Chemical Vapor Deposition of Silicon Carbide Thin Films for Photonic Integrated Circuit Applications |
| title_fullStr | Scalable Chemical Vapor Deposition of Silicon Carbide Thin Films for Photonic Integrated Circuit Applications |
| title_full_unstemmed | Scalable Chemical Vapor Deposition of Silicon Carbide Thin Films for Photonic Integrated Circuit Applications |
| title_short | Scalable Chemical Vapor Deposition of Silicon Carbide Thin Films for Photonic Integrated Circuit Applications |
| title_sort | scalable chemical vapor deposition of silicon carbide thin films for photonic integrated circuit applications |
| topic | silicon carbide thin film chemical vapor deposition single-source precursor NIR absorption photoluminescence excitation spectroscopy |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3417/15/15/8603 |
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