Ion implantation of semiconductor materials is a very attractive technique for forming the guided wave components needed in integrated optical circuits. However, to produce optical components with sufficiently deep implanted regions for low loss operation at a wavelength of 10.6 microns, this technique normally requires very high accelerating energies, in excess of 1 MeV. Here we report on a series of experiments exploring an alternative solution to this requirement, namely, the migration of optically active carrier compensating centers produced by implantation at both elevated and cryogenic temperatures. While this mechanism has been observed in the formation of p-n junctions in GaAs, no attempt has previously been made to utilize this enhanced penetration for optical waveguidin:E. Silicon-doped n-type GaAs wafers have been implanted with 300 keV protons at fluence levels up to 5x1015 ion/cm2. During implantation, the wafers have been maintained at temperatures ranging from -170°C to +350°C. The thickness of the compensated region has been determined from infrared specular reflectance curves and from capacitance voltage (C-V) measurements. Theoretical reflectance curves are constructed based on the thickness data and are compared to the experimental curves.

Date Published: 25 February 1981
PDF: 5 pages
Proc. SPIE 0239, Guided Wave Optical and Surface Acoustic Wave Devices: Systems and Applications, (25 February 1981); doi: 10.1117/12.959203

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 0239:
Guided Wave Optical and Surface Acoustic Wave Devices: Systems and Applications
Chen S. Tsai, Editor(s)