Invited Paper TF-TuM1
Atomic Layer Deposition Templating Techniques and Materials for Photonic Crystals

Tuesday, October 21, 2008, 8:00 am, Room 302

Atomic layer deposition is shown to be a powerful tool for the fabrication of novel 3D and 2D periodic dielectric structures. It is a unique complement to a variety of template technologies by providing a mechanism to invert, replicate and convert materials while precisely retaining the form of the original template. The ability to change material type not only enables additional functionalities to be added to the structure, but also significantly enhances the processing range when high melting point materials are substituted for low melting point materials. The ability to refine lattice geometries by the sacrificial layer and backfilling technique are shown to be powerful methods to enhance and tune structural and optical properties. This is demonstrated for both synthetic silica opal and polymer (holographically) derived templates, where dielectric lattice inversion, and the development of large pore structures offer significant enhancement to the photonic band gap by backfilling with different high-index materials. Additionally, the incorporation of luminescent, electro-optic and liquid-crystals can be used to significantly increase the functionality of the original structures. Theoretical and experimental investigations of these structures are presented and provide clear evidence of the precise control enabled by atomic layer deposition. Also we report further extensions of the ALD technique for surface preparation and functionalization for multilayer growth, and developments for the deposition of high index and optically transparent materials such as GaP and Zr3N4. The recent extension of these deposition techniques to the development of novel 2D slab waveguide structures is presented.