Planar waveguide devices on a silicon compatible technology platform

Research and development in the field of integrated optics devices for communication application and sensing purposes has been extremely speeded up over the last decade [1]. The ma in motivation beyond this development arises from the rapidly increased need of today’s information society for fast data transfer. In principle, the integrated optics devices can be realized in various materials systems and technologies, e.g. LiNbO3, doped silica, III-V materials , polymers, silicon oxynitride, etc. For each of them advantages and drawbacks can be pointed out. For the majority of our integrated optics devices, an Si-compatible technology platform is applied. Mostly, a silicon oxynitride (SiON) waveguide forms the basic building block [2]. This material is highly attractive for integrated optics due to the following properties: