Ion-bombardment-enhanced etching of LiNbO3 using damage profile tailoring

Abstract

The production of a tailored implant-damage profile by sequential implantation of ions at several different energies rather than at a single energy can increase the depth and improve the wall smoothness of features produced by ion-bombardment-enhanced etching of a solid. This has been demonstrated in the enhanced etching of LiNbO3 by HF following He+ implantation at several energies and fluences selected to produce a relatively flat damage depth profile. The use of lighter ions permits the etching of deeper features than is possible with heavier ions of the same energy. Buried microcracks are observed in heavily implanted Z-cut samples. Similar microcracks may play an important role in determining propagation losses in ion-implanted waveguides.