Electron beam direct write of chalcogenide glass integrated optics

The authors present experimental results of electron beam driven structuring of Ge_xSe_1-x glass films with composition (x ∼ 0.2) that lies very close to the floppy to rigid stiffness transition for the purpose of achieving planar ridge optical waveguides. Chalcogenide thin films were deposited by pulsed laser deposition and spin-coating on thermally oxidized silicon substrates. The height and width of the induced deformations tend to increase with slower beam scan rates, greater number of exposures, larger beam currents, and thicker Ge_xSe_1-x films. Deformations greater than three times the original film thickness were obtained. Numerical analysis shows that guided wave optical modes are supported. Fabricated directional coupler, ring resonator, and grating structures are promising advances toward realizing planar lightwave devices by direct writing with an electron beam.