300 mm Wafer-Scale SiN Platform for Broadband Soliton Microcombs Compatible with Alkali Atomic References

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates the fabrication of broadband soliton microcombs on 300 mm silicon nitride wafers using a low-stress deposition process, enabling scalable integration with electronic and photonic devices for advanced applications.

Contribution

It introduces a low-stress plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition process for 300 mm SiN wafers, achieving high-quality, broadband microcombs compatible with electronic integration.

Findings

Consistent high intrinsic quality factor across 300 mm wafers

Broadband soliton microcomb generation extending to alkali atom wavelengths

Successful fabrication of thick SiN films with low stress and uniform thickness

Abstract

Chip-integrated optical frequency combs (OFCs) based on Kerr nonlinear resonators are of great significance given their scalability and wide range of applications. Broadband on-chip OFCs reaching visible wavelengths are especially valuable as they address atomic clock transitions that play an important role in position, navigation, and timing infrastructure. Silicon nitride (SiN) deposited via low pressure chemical vapor deposition (LPCVD) is the usual platform for the fabrication of chip-integrated OFCs, and such fabrication is now standard at wafer sizes up to 200 mm. However, the LPCVD high temperature and film stress poses challenges in scaling to larger wafers and integration with electronic and photonic devices. Here, we report the linear performance and broadband frequency comb generation from microring resonators fabricated on 300 mm wafers at AIM Photonics, using a lower temperature, lower stress plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition process that is suitable for thick ($\approx$ 700 nm) SiN films and compatible with electronic and photonic integration. The platform exhibits consistent insertion loss, high intrinsic quality factor, and thickness variation of $\pm$2 % across the whole 300 mm wafer. We demonstrate broadband soliton microcomb generation with a lithographically tunable dispersion profile extending to wavelengths relevant to common alkali atom transitions. These results are a step towards mass-manufacturable devices that integrate OFCs with electronic and active photonic components, enabling advanced applications including optical clocks, LiDAR, and beyond.