Optical characterization of deuterated silicon-rich nitride waveguides

Chemical vapor deposition-based growth techniques allow flexible design of complementary metal-oxide semiconductor (CMOS) compatible materials. Here, we report the deuterated silicon-rich nitride films grown using plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition. The linear and nonlinear properties of the films are characterized, and we experimentally confirm that the silicon-rich nitride films grown with SiD(4) eliminates Si–H and N–H related absorption. The performance of identical waveguides for films grown with SiH(4) and SiD(4) are compared demonstrating a 2 dB/cm improvement in line with that observed in literature. Waveguides fabricated on the SRN:D film are further shown to possess a nonlinear parameter of 95 W(−1) m(−1), with the film exhibiting a linear and nonlinear refractive index of 2.46 and 9.8 [Formula: see text] 10(–18) m(2)W(−1) respectively.