Scattering loss reduction in ZnO optical waveguides by laser annealing

Abstract

We report successful laser annealing of ZnO optical waveguides deposited on an amorphous SiO2 layer thermally grown on Si. A significant improvement in the optical attenuation of the fundamental mode from several dB/cm before laser annealing to as low as 0.01 dB/cm after laser annealing is observed. Scattering loss measurements for the m = 1 and m = 2 mode are also reported. We attribute the reduction in loss primarily to an improvement in the quality of the ZnO film in the region near the ZnO-SiO2 interface.