Optimization of periodic column growth in glancing angle deposition for photonic crystal fabrication

We investigate the growth of periodically aligned silicon microstructures for the fabrication of square spiral photonic crystals using the glancing angle deposition phi-sweep process. We report the optimization of the phi-sweep offset angle for fabrication of microstructures with more precise geometry. The effects of varying the sweep offset angle of the phi-sweep process are studied for films deposited onto a square lattice array of growth seeds. To represent one growth segment of the phi-sweep process, we fabricate 15 nm silicon thin films using several azimuthal substrate offsets from 0° to 45° at a vapor incidence angle of 85°. We also deposit silicon square spirals on square lattice arrays with the phi-sweep method, using various sweep offset angles from γ = 0° to 45°. We find that using an offset angle of γ = 26.5° optimizes the shadowing geometry, which minimizes anisotropic broadening, producing greater quality photonic crystal structures. From normal incidence reflection spectroscopy, a maximum full width at half-maximum of 273 ± 3 nm and a relative peak width (Δλ/λ) of 16.1 ± 0.1% were found for a sweep offset angle of γ = 26.5°.

[1]  Ovidiu Toader,et al.  Square spiral photonic crystals: robust architecture for microfabrication of materials with large three-dimensional photonic band gaps. , 2002, Physical review. E, Statistical, nonlinear, and soft matter physics.

[2]  Michael J. Brett,et al.  Fabrication of Tetragonal Square Spiral Photonic Crystals , 2002 .

[3]  Martin Wegener,et al.  Direct Laser Writing of Three‐ Dimensional Photonic Crystals with a Complete Photonic Bandgap in Chalcogenide Glasses , 2006 .

[4]  Saulius Juodkazis,et al.  Three‐Dimensional Spiral‐Architecture Photonic Crystals Obtained By Direct Laser Writing , 2005 .

[5]  Experimental realization of a well-controlled 3D silicon spiral photonic crystal , 2007 .

[6]  Kevin Robbie,et al.  Porous thin films for thermal barrier coatings , 2001 .

[7]  M. Brett,et al.  Capacitive Humidity Sensors With High Sensitivity and Subsecond Response Times , 2007, IEEE Sensors Journal.

[8]  M. Brett,et al.  Periodically structured glancing angle deposition thin films , 2005, IEEE Transactions on Nanotechnology.

[9]  J. Joannopoulos,et al.  Photonic crystals: putting a new twist on light , 1997, Nature.

[10]  Kate Kaminska,et al.  Simulating structure and optical response of vacuum evaporated porous rugate filters , 2004 .

[11]  E. Yablonovitch,et al.  Inhibited spontaneous emission in solid-state physics and electronics. , 1987, Physical review letters.

[12]  M. J. Brett,et al.  Porosity engineering in glancing angle deposition thin films , 2005 .

[13]  R. C. Picu,et al.  Uniform Si nanostructures grown by oblique angle deposition with substrate swing rotation , 2005 .

[14]  Michael J. Brett,et al.  Morphology of periodic nanostructures for photonic crystals grown by glancing angle deposition , 2006 .

[15]  Michael J. Brett,et al.  Glancing angle deposition: Fabrication, properties, and applications of micro- and nanostructured thin films , 2007 .

[16]  James N. McMullin,et al.  Inhomogeneous thin film optical filters fabricated using glancing angle deposition , 1997 .

[17]  M. Brett,et al.  Fabrication of submicrometer regular arrays of pillars and helices , 1999 .

[18]  R. G. Denning,et al.  Fabrication of photonic crystals for the visible spectrum by holographic lithography , 2000, Nature.

[19]  Bradley K. Smith,et al.  A three-dimensional photonic crystal operating at infrared wavelengths , 1998, Nature.

[20]  Peichen Yu,et al.  Fluid detection with photonic crystal-based multichannel waveguides , 2003 .

[21]  M. J. Brett,et al.  Sculptured thin films and glancing angle deposition: Growth mechanics and applications , 1997 .

[22]  M. Brett,et al.  Fabrication of silicon submicrometer ribbons by glancing angle deposition , 2005 .

[23]  M. J. Brett,et al.  Chiral sculptured thin films , 1996, Nature.

[24]  Michael Brett,et al.  Square spiral 3D photonic bandgap crystals at telecommunications frequencies. , 2005, Optics express.

[25]  J. Joannopoulos,et al.  High Transmission through Sharp Bends in Photonic Crystal Waveguides. , 1996, Physical review letters.

[26]  G. Ozin,et al.  Large-scale synthesis of a silicon photonic crystal with a complete three-dimensional bandgap near 1.5 micrometres , 2000, Nature.