Silica buried channel waveguides fabricated at low temperature using PECVD

Buried channel waveguides made of silica films deposited on silicon substrates have been fabricated at low temperature (<100°C) without thermal annealing, using the Helicon plasma deposition technique. The guides have losses as low as 1 dB/cm. A 1 × 8 splitter comprising concatenated Y-junctions has been fabricated and characterised.