Ion beam processing of SiC for optical application

By means of McV oxygen ion implantation at elevated temperatures into 6H-SiC and subsequent thermal annealing buried SiC-SiO, layers with refractive indices reduced towards the value of SiO2 were formed. These layers act as optical barriers for the overlying weakly damaged SiC layers which, according to m-line spectroscopy measurements, show multimode waveguiding at the wavelength 633 nm. Focused Ga ion beams were used for maskless patterning of SiC either by amorphization followed by wet chemical etching or by physical sputtering. A combination of large area oxygen ion implantation with focused ion beam patterning offers a promising way to produce strip waveguides in SiC.