Viavi Solutions Inc.
PHOTONIC INTEGRATED CIRCUIT WITH SPUTTERED SEMICONDUCTOR MATERIAL

Abstract:

A sputtering system may inject hydrogen and a sputtering gas into a chamber of the sputtering system, which may cause at least one layer of a hydrogenated semiconductor material, such as hydrogenated silicon (Si:H), to be sputtered onto a substrate disposed in the chamber until the at least one layer has a thickness that satisfies a threshold. In some implementations, the hydrogen and the sputtering gas may be injected into the chamber of the sputtering system while a temperature in the chamber is in a range from 145 degrees Celsius to 165 degrees Celsius. Accordingly, in some implementations, the sputtered layer of the hydrogenated semiconductor material may have one or more optical properties that satisfy a threshold to enable operation in a 9xx nanometer wavelength regime and at larger wavelengths.