BURIED OPTICAL WAVE-GUIDES OF POROUS SILICON

It is demonstrated that the refractive-index-controllable nature of lu minescent porous silicon (PS) is directly applicable to the developmen t of a three-dimensionally buried optical waveguide. The PS waveguide is fabricated on a p-type silicon wafer by monolithic processes such a s photolithography, ion implantation, anodization, and thermal oxidati on. An induced high contrast of refractive indices leads to efficient confinement and propagation of visible light. When the active core lay er is partially excited by a He-Cd (325 nm) laser, blue emission is ob served from a cleaved facet. The PS waveguide is potentially useful as a component of silicon-based photonic integration.