Ion Implanted Optical Waveguides In Gallium Arsenide

Integrated optical circuits operating at infrared wavelengths and fabricated monolithically on a GaAs substrate will have a tremendous impact on signal processing systems. These circuits will afford the ultimate merger of VLSI electronics and microwave devices with integrated GaAs optoelectronics. Such GaAs components include planar and channel waveguides, parallel-channel directional couplers, electro-optic modulators and switches, laser diodes, acousto-optic modulators, and detectors. The focus of this paper is the design and fabrication by ion implantation of the necessary fundamental build-ing blocks of optical integrated circuit planar waveguides. Design considerations include the compensation mechanism in doped GaAs substrates and the implantation processing parameters utilized in achieving optimum optical and electrical device characteristics.