Ge–Sb–S–Se–Te amorphous chalcogenide thin films towards on-chip nonlinear photonic devices

Thanks to their unique optical properties Ge–Sb–S–Se–Te amorphous chalcogenide materials and compounds offer tremendous opportunities of applications, in particular in near and mid-infrared range. This spectral range is for instance of high interest for photonics or optical sensors. Using co-sputtering technique of chalcogenide compound targets in a 200 mm industrial deposition tool, we show how by modifying the amorphous structure of GeSb(w)S(x)Se(y)Te(z) chalcogenide thin films one can significantly tailor their linear and nonlinear optical properties. Modelling of spectroscopic ellipsometry data collected on the as-deposited chalcogenide thin films is used to evaluate their linear and nonlinear properties. Moreover, Raman and Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopies permitted to get a description of their amorphous structure. For the purpose of applications, their thermal stability upon annealing is also evaluated. We demonstrate that depending on the GeSb(w)S(x)Se(y)Te(z) film composition a trade-off between a high transparency in near- or mid-infrared ranges, strong nonlinearity and good thermal stability can be found in order to use such materials for applications compatible with the standard CMOS integration processes of microelectronics and photonics.