Fig. 7: Q and loss vs. temperature near the C-band for different published works based on their silicon nitride growth methods and processing compared to this work.
From: Anneal-free ultra-low loss silicon nitride integrated photonics
Our lowest losses (thin nitride) are near an “optimum”, denoted by the oval, between low loss and temperature, the current record low loss also being a thin nitride device42. Our thick nitride structures have double the Q of the current record calculated for low-temperature fabricated devices with similar areas58 as marked with the C, and very similar loss overall to the absolute record while having an area 7.5 times smaller. The different works compared include inductively coupled plasma-plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (ICP-PECVD) processes using deuterated silane precursors like (I) This work, (II) Y. Xie et al. 58, (III) J. Chiles et al. 56, and (IV) X.X. Chia et al. 61—which also uses Si-rich SiN; Sputtering such as (V) A. Frigg et al. 83, (VI) S. Zhang et al. 62; plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) in conjunction with chemical–mechanical polishing (CMP) (VII) X. Ji et al. 90; pulsed laser deposition—(VIII) N. Golshani et al. 91; And low-pressure chemical vapor deposition (LPCVD) together with annealing, such as (IX) Z. Ye et al. 92, (X) X. Ji et al. 52, (XI) K. Liu et al. 42, (XII) J. Liu et al. 76— which uses a Damascene process too, and (XIII) W. Sun et al. 93
