Direct measurement of proton-beam-written polymer optical waveguide sidewall morphorlogy using an atomic force microscope
- Department of Physics Centre for Ion Beam Applications (CIBA), National University of Singapore, 2 Science Drive 3, Singapore 117542 (Singapore)
Proton-beam writing (PBW) is a direct-write micromachining technique capable of fabricating low-loss single-mode polymer waveguides with straight and smooth sidewalls. Recently, the sidewall morphologies of such proton beam written polymer waveguide structures were directly measured using an atomic force microscope (AFM). Statistical information such as the rms roughness and the correlation length of the sidewall profile obtained from the AFM scans allows us to quantify the quality of the sidewalls and optimize the fabrication parameters using PBW. For structures fabricated using a stage scanning speed of {approx}10 {mu}m/s, a rms roughness of 3.8{+-}0.3 nm with a correlation length of 46{+-}6 nm was measured.
- OSTI ID:
- 20632744
- Journal Information:
- Applied Physics Letters, Journal Name: Applied Physics Letters Journal Issue: 8 Vol. 85; ISSN APPLAB; ISSN 0003-6951
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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