Abstract:
Microcavity optical frequency comb (also called the microcavity comb), a subversive technology, is an integrated light source produced from a four-wave mixing process in a nonlinear optical microcavity. As a precision device with excellent properties of optical frequency, microcavity combs can be extensively applied in many fields such as molecular spectroscopy, coherent communication, LiDAR, metrology, and lightweight equipment for airborne system. Here, the fabrication of integrated silicon nitride (Si
3N
4) microcavity optical frequency comb devices was reported. The balance between the stress, thickness and stoichiometry of Si
3N
4 was well controlled. A reliable method was proposed to fabricate Si
3N
4 optical film with enough thickness and stoichiometry to meet the requirements of anomalous dispersion and reducing light absorption. The modified technology of Damascene process with microstructures to decline the stress of thick Si
3N
4 film was developed to reduce defects. Furthermore, the mask via with a 30 nm thick alumina compensation layer was optimized and a practicable etching process was used for fabricating Si
3N
4 microresonators with sub-15 nm roughness of lateral walls of microring and waveguide. The experimental results show a high quality of Si
3N
4 microcavity. Additionally, a coherent Kerr optical frequency comb spectrum can be produced with a wide spectral range from 1480 nm to 1640 nm via dual light pumping.