Characterization of Ta doped HfO2for waveguiding applications

Abstract

Photonic Integrated Circuit (PIC) is a system that incorporates several photonic functions and is essentially analogous to an electronic integrated circuit. This paper presents a study of Ta-doped HfO2 for future applications in the photonic integrated circuit field. Ta doped HfO2 thin films were fabricated by the sol-gel process. Thin films were deposited on glass substrates by dip coating with a pulling out speed of 100 mm/min and were sintered for 60 minutes between 400°C-600°C. XRD results showed that powders annealed at 450°C crystallized to an orthorhombic-monoclinic phase mixture, while in thin films, crystallization started at 600 °C. Annealing temperature dependence of the surface morphology was examined by SEM. The Refractive index and the thickness of thin films were analyzed with a prism coupling technique. © 2021 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.