Optimization of dry etching parameters for fabrication of polysilicon waveguides with smooth sidewall using a capacitively coupled plasma reactor.

In this paper, we demonstrate the optimization of a capacitively coupled plasma etching for the fabrication of a polysilicon waveguide with smooth sidewalls and low optical loss. A detailed experimental study on the influences of RF plasma power and chamber pressure on the roughness of the sidewalls of waveguides was conducted and waveguides were characterized using a scanning electron microscope. It was demonstrated that optimal combination of pressure (30 mTorr) and power (150 W) resulted in the smoothest sidewalls. The optical losses of the optimized waveguide were 4.1±0.6  dB/cm.