Low temperature plasma chemical vapor deposition of silicon oxynitride thin-film waveguides

The use of plasma chemical vapor deposition (PCVD) of silicon oxynitride (Si(x)O(y)N(z)) thin films on Si substrates at the very low temperature of 200 C is reported. Such a low deposition temperature would allow these films to be deposited on substrates with low decomposition or melting temperature. This is particularly significant to some of the important III-V compounds such as GaAs and InP. Another advantage of this low temperature deposition process is that undesired diffusion of dopants already present in the semiconductor substrates is reduced during film deposition. The details on the deposition procedures and the optical characteristics of the films are reported.