Ultrathin slices of ferroelectric domain-patterned lithium niobate by crystal ion slicing

We report the successful fabrication of 6 μm thick slices from a ferroelectric domain microengineered LiNbO3 wafer device using the crystal ion slicing technique. The device was created by micropatterning ferroelectric domains in a bulk 0.3 mm thick wafer of z-cut LiNbO3, followed by ion-implanting with 3.8 MeV He+ ions to a fluence 5 × 10+16 ions/cm2 to create a damage layer at a well defined depth from the surface. Etching away this damaged layer in dilute hydrofluoric acid results in a liftoff of the top slice in which the ferroelectric domain patterns are left intact. The influence of annealing conditions on liftoff time and depth of etch lines was studied. Helium-Neon laser light was successfully coupled into the device. Due to unintentional breakage of the polished input and output faces, the electro-optic scanning performance has not been characterized so far. © 2001 Materials Research Society