Dm. Tennant et al., PHASE GRATING MASKS FOR PHOTONIC INTEGRATED-CIRCUITS FABRICATED BY E-BEAM WRITING AND DRY-ETCHING - CHALLENGES TO COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS, Microelectronic engineering, 27(1-4), 1995, pp. 427-437
Near field holography is a method of using grating photomasks in which
the m = -1 and m = 0 diffracted beams of a UV source interfere to for
m a standing wave pattern. This simple hologram can then be used to ex
pose a grating pattern on a process wafer when held in near- contact.
This technique is especially attractive for use in OEICs and PICs when
fabrication of the grating masks is accomplished with e-beam lithogra
phy and dry etching, since the diffractive properties of the mask can
be controlled by the physical parameters of the mask. The grating peri
od on masks made in this way can be precisely controlled to produce ar
rays of lasers each separated by only a small change in frequency (ord
er 100 GHz) as may be required for WDM applications. We review the phe
nomenology of fused silica phase grating masks and describe work towar
d establishing characterization criteria, implementing practical print
ing methods, improving e-beam precision, and demonstrating laser array
performance. We discuss principle issues and progress in each of the
technical areas.