Low-loss Ge waveguide at the 2-µm band on an n-type Ge-on-insulator wafer

Abstract

Integrated mid-infrared (MIR) photonics has been widely investigated for the past decade, where germanium (Ge) is a promising optical material in this regime. In this work, we studied the origin of optical losses in Ge waveguides on a Ge-on-insulator (GeOI) wafer fabricated using Smart-cut. We observed that the high optical loss was mainly due to the holes in Ge films, which were generated by crystal defects formed by hydrogen ion implantation for Smart-cut. Furthermore, we found that the carrier concentration profile after the splitting process in remaining Ge films depends on the hydrogen ion implantation energy and initial background doping concentration of Ge wafers. A higher proton implantation energy can lead to deeper penetration of hydrogen ions into Ge films with less damage remaining near the implantation surface, resulting in the successful fabrication of an n-type GeOI wafer with a low carrier density. As a result, we experimentally demonstrated a low-loss Ge waveguide on an n-type GeOI wafer with a propagation loss as low as 2.3 ± 0.2 dB/cm. This work suggests an approach to tailor the carrier type in a Ge film formed using Smart-cut for large-scale MIR Ge photonic integrated circuits.