Reactive Ion Etching in Silica-on-silicon Planar Waveguide Technology

Reactive ion etching has a wide range of applications in optical waveguide fabrication and is the enabling technology for hybrid integration. The etching mechanism, etch rate, mask material, and selectivity over mask are discussed for core etching, deep glass etching and deep silicon etching. Key words: reactive ion etching, silica-on-silicon waveguide, groov