Self-Collimation in Planar Photonic Crystals Fabricated by CMOS Technology

We report a self-collimating demonstration in planar photonic crystals (PhCs) fabricated in silicon-on-insulator (SOI) wafers using 0.18 μm silicon complimentary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) techniques. The emphasis was on demonstrating the self-collimation effect by using the standard CMOS equipment and process development of an optical test chip using a high-volume manufacturing facility. The PhCs are designed on the 230-nm-top-Si layer using a square lattice of air holes 280 nm in diameter. The lattice constant of the PhCs is 380 nm. The experimentally obtained wavelengths for self-collimation are in excellent agreement with theory.