On-chip spectrometer operating in the mid-infrared (MIR) regime (λ = 2 – 14 μm) enables the miniaturization of a chemical sensing platform that identifies compounds based on their unique molecular fingerprints. Germanium-on-Silicon (Ge-on- Si) material system is a suitable candidate for its transparency in the MIR spectrum and compatibility with silicon processing. As chemical sensing is conducted by having the mode evanescent field interacting with the analyte, the design of Ge-on-Si waveguide for a compact footprint (small bending radius) and large evanescent field coverage is necessary. However, the bending radius of the Ge-on-Si waveguide is limited to hundreds of micrometers due to the low refractive index contrast between germanium and silicon. In this work, we demonstrate a 3 μm thick Ge-on-Si waveguide, with ~89° sidewall angles and a high gap aspect ratio of 10 (resolvable gaps of 300 nm). Different types of Ge-on-Si devices are fabricated including in-plane distributed Bragg grating (DBR) structures, cascaded Fabry-Perot resonators, and polarization splitters. We show that over-etching the Si lower cladding is able to reduce bending loss by ~10x, allowing us to decrease the bending radius to ~50 μm. Designs of 32 waveguide geometries for single mode propagation from 5.5 μm to 11 μm are presented, each of which is integrated with grating couplers operating at specific peak wavelengths. Our measurements show high consistency between the simulated and measured peak wavelengths of the grating couplers, with an inter-chip standard deviation of σλ ⁄ λpeak <1%
Germanium-on-Silicon (Ge-on-Si) platform has been demonstrated as an excellent candidate for mid-infrared photonics applications, including on-chip mid-infrared spectroscopy and biochemical sensing. However, this platform is often saddled by high propagation loss due to a combination of threading dislocation defects at the Ge/Si interface, absorption in the silicon for λ < 8 μm, and surface scattering due to sidewall roughness. This work investigates the effects on loss reduction through different annealing techniques on Ge-on-Si waveguides fabricated using CMOS-compatible processes. We explore the use of local laser annealing at waveguide sidewalls, whereby the fluence was varied. A non-local annealing technique in hydrogen ambient was also employed as comparison. The propagation losses for wavelengths, ranging from λ = 5 μm to λ = 11 μm, were systematically characterized by fabricating waveguide and grating coupler structures on the same chip. Cutback measurements were performed by varying the waveguide length (of the same width) from L = 1 mm to L = 4 mm. Both hydrogen and laser annealing experiments show marked reduction in the propagation loss, by up to 27% and 46% respectively. This finding paves the way for post-processing techniques to reduce propagation loss in Ge-on-Si platform, which will enable various on-chip mid-IR applications in the future.
A demonstration of an on-chip CO2 gas sensor is reported. It is constructed by the integration of a MEMS-based thermal emitter, a scandium-doped aluminum nitride (ScAlN) based pyroelectric detector, and a sensing channel built on Si substrate. The integrated sensor has a small footprint of 13mm × 3mm (L×W), achieved by the replacement of bulky bench-top mid-IR source and detectors with MEMS-based thermal emitter and ScAlN-based pyroelectric detector, with their footprints occupying 3.15 mm × 3 mm and 3.45 mm × 3 mm, respectively. In addition, the performance of the integrated sensor in detecting CO2 of various concentrations in N2 ambient is also studied. The results indicate that the pyroelectric detector responds linearly to the CO2 concentration. The integration of MEMS emitter, thermal pathway substrate, and pyroelectric detector, realized through CMOS compatible process, shows the potential for massdeployment of gas sensors in environmental sensing networks.
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