RESEARCH ARTICLE | JUNE 06 2024

Silicon-loaded waveguide in sputter-deposited PZT-on-MgO

platform for on-chip electro-optic applications 
Suraj  ; Shankar Kumar Selvaraja

Appl. Phys. Lett. 124, 231105 (2024)

https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0191912

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03 July 2024 09:15:00

 Applied Physics Letters ARTICLE pubs.aip.org/aip/apl

Silicon-loaded waveguide in sputter-deposited

PZT-on-MgO platform for on-chip electro-optic
applications
Cite as: Appl. Phys. Lett. 124, 231105 (2024); doi: 10.1063/5.0191912
Submitted: 7 January 2024 . Accepted: 23 May 2024 .
Published Online: 6 June 2024

Suraja) and Shankar Kumar Selvaraja

AFFILIATIONS
Centre for Nano Science and Engineering, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore 560012, India

a)
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed: suraj2@iisc.ac.in

ABSTRACT
In this article, we propose and demonstrate a thin film-sputtered PZT as a base for the development of Si photonic devices such as wave-
guides, MZI, and electro-optic modulators. We report the optimization of PZT on MgO (002) substrate to obtain a highly oriented PZT film
(100) with a surface roughness of 2 nm. Si gratings are simulated for TE mode with an efficiency of
2.2 dB/coupler. The enhancement in the
simulated overlap coefficient of 200% is observed in Si-on-PZT compared to the conventional PZT-on-SOI architecture. The fabricated Si

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gratings on PZT show a coupling efficiency of
10 dB/coupler and a 1 dB bandwidth of 14 nm for a TE Gaussian source. The DC electro-
optic characterization for MZI (Si-on-PZT) shows a spectrum shift of 71 pm/V in the C-band compared to 14 pm/V obtained for PZT-on-
SOI. The enhancement of 400% in experimental response is attributed to the improved electro-optic overlap as well as PZT film quality. Our
proposed design can potentially be used for programmable photonic integrated circuits using an electronically tunable PZT thin film as well
as in neural networks.
Published under an exclusive license by AIP Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0191912

Lead zirconium titanate (PZT) is one of the established piezo- lattice constant difference between PZT and MgO.6–8 We achieve this
electric materials used in micro-electro-mechanical systems and bulk by starting with optimizing the PZT on MgO(002) substrate. The
motion drivers. In addition to its piezo-electric properties, PZT has a material properties used to qualify the PZT film are material phase,
linear electro-optic effect (Pockels effect) where the material refractive surface roughness, and the presence of ferroelectricity. PZT was opti-
index can be changed with an electric field. This can be utilized to real- mized to obtain a morphotropic phase boundary, which yields maxi-
ize high-speed light modulation. PZT has one of the highest Pockels mum piezo-electric coefficient.9,10 The improvement in the response
coefficient among the ferroelectric group of material. The typical value due to the quality of the film has been reported by Zhu et al. in
of Pockels coefficient (calculated using electro-optic modulation) is “Optical and electro-optic anisotropy of epitaxial PZT thin films”
 100 pm/V and the highest reported d33 coefficient of  1000 pm/ showing the anisotropic behavior of the films making the epitaxial
V.1,2 Due to these advantages, PZT is now being looked at as an attrac- nature of the film extremely important for the EO modulator design.
tive alternative to perform electro-optic modulation by integrating As reported in the work using birefringence measurement, the Pockels
with Si substrate or SiN substrate.3–5 coefficient in (100) plane is the highest compared to (111) plane. The
Most of the reports have used PZT cladded waveguide devices to ability to extract maximum EO response would require an epitaxial
realize light modulation. Furthermore, sol–gel technique is used to (100) film in the direction of poling. Losses in a photonic device are
deposit PZT. In this work, we propose an architecture that uses very susceptible to surface roughness. Oriented PZT with low surface
silicon-loaded PZT as the waveguide to realize a modulator. It would roughness is essential to reduce scattering losses and make photonic
help overcome the electro-optic interaction issue faced in conventional device fabrication using PZT as a platform feasible. By using PZT as a
architecture. We propose to use magnesium oxide (MgO) as a sub- platform rather than using it as a material to integrate on top of Si
strate for PZT growth and device fabrication. In our previous work,4 waveguide, the optical field can interact directly with PZT and hence
we performed modulation using sputtered deposited PZT on MgO potentially increase the performance of the electro-optic modulator
buffer. MgO(002) was chosen due to low refractive index5 and a small such as reducing VpLp leading to low voltage operation.

Appl. Phys. Lett. 124, 231105 (2024); doi: 10.1063/5.0191912 124, 231105-1
Published under an exclusive license by AIP Publishing
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We demonstrate TE grating coupler to a Si-loaded PZT waveguide thickness dependency of perovskite phase formation at a constant
and an EO modulator in MZI configuration. We achieve an EO annealing temperature as seen in Table I. PbO and PbTiO3 are formed
response of 71 pm/V from a sputter-deposited, highly oriented PZT on at the interface in which further annealing not only forms the perov-
MgO substrate. skite phase11,12 but also leads to an increase in the crack density of the
Figure 1(a) shows the lattice of PZT with the “Pb” atom occupy- film. The degree of crystallinity can be increased by increasing the
ing the vertices, “O” at the face centers, and “Zr” and “Ti” at the body annealing temperature as seen in (x scan) in Fig. 1(d) with the reduc-
centers slightly displaced from the center, giving it a spontaneous tion in FWHM with increasing temperature. We observe a reduction
polarization. Figure 1(a) shows the PZT/MgO stack wherein MgO in the FWHM at 700  C film, but it increases the roughness and also
with a lattice constant of (a ¼ 0.4216 nm) puts the PZT (a ¼ 0.404 nm) other peaks [PZT polycrystalline peaks such as (110) as seen in the
film under tensile strain. The quality of the deposited and annealed inset in Fig. 1(d)] start to appear in the XRD, thus reducing crystallin-
PZT film is dictated by the stress developed in the deposited film. As ity as seen in the inset in Fig. 1(d). The periodic peaks of PZT in in-
reported in our work,4 we use a slow ramp rate to mitigate the sudden plane XRD spectra (/ scan) shown in Fig. 1(d), deposited at 50 W and
stress development during perovskite phase formation. We use RF 650  C annealing temperature, further confirm the highly oriented
sputter-deposited PZT and ex situ annealing to form perovskite phase PZT film on MgO. FESEM image of the deposited and annealed PZT
film on the MgO(002) substrate. The PZT deposition was done at an film in Fig. 1(f) shows a crack-free film with AFM measurements giv-
varying RF power of 35, 50, 100, and 150 W. The deposited films were ing a roughness of less than 2 nm with the inset showing the AFM
annealed at 650  C at a ramp rate of 1.5  C/min. Figure 1(b) shows the image of the highly oriented PZT film.
high-resolution x-ray diffraction (HRXRD) spectra of the PZT phase Figure 2(a) shows the waveguide dispersion with variation in the
obtained for varying RF power (deposition time of 2 h). We observe a waveguide height (width ¼ 1.3 lm), giving  244 nm height as the sin-
polycrystalline PZT film on MgO(002) at 150 W, highly oriented PZT gle mode operation dimension. The inset in Fig. 2(a) shows the cross
with only [100] plane for the film deposited at 50 and 35 W showing section schematic of the proposed Si-loaded waveguide on PZT/MgO
the presence of PbO and PbTiO3 (“”). Figure 1(c) shows the varia- platform used to perform mode simulation. The refractive index con-
tion in the phase of PZT deposited at an RF power of 35 W, 650  C trast between Si(3.43) and PZT( 2.3) suggests that the optical field
annealing temperature, and varying deposition time with perovskite would be confined predominantly in the Si waveguide. Simulation in
phase(r) appearing for the deposition of  165 min confirming the Figs. 2(a)–2(d) shows that the choice of dimension can lead to a

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FIG. 1. (a) Schematic lattice structure of PZT and PZT/MgO stack; (b) HRXRD showing a normal scan of the sputter-deposited PZT at varying RF power and annealed at
650  C; (c) HRXRD showing a normal scan of the deposited PZT at 35 W RF power with varying deposition time and annealed at 650  C; (d) x scan of (100) peak for the PZT
annealed at 650 and 700  C with inset showing HRXRD normal scan at different annealing temperatures; (e) / scan of 50 W, 650 annealed PZT sample; (f) SEM and AFM of
the optimized PZT film.

Appl. Phys. Lett. 124, 231105 (2024); doi: 10.1063/5.0191912 124, 231105-2
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TABLE I. Deposition thickness variation with varying RF power of deposition. Gaussian source angle (h), grating thickness (t), PZT thickness (tPZT),
source position (Xsource), and duty cycle (D) for TE mode on the cou-
RF Anneal Deposition Thickness pling efficiency. A thickness of 534 and 411 nm is used for PZT
power (W) temperature ( C) time (min) (nm) (tPZT) and Si (t), respectively, if not mentioned otherwise. Similarly,
the period (K), incident angle (h), source position (Xsource), and duty
150 650 120 1100
cycle (D) are fixed as 650 nm, 8 , 10 lm, and 477 nm, respectively, if
100 650 120 900 not mentioned otherwise. A peak coupling efficiency (CE) of 60% is
50 650 120 350 obtained for TE mode with an optimized “K” of 646 nm, a “t” of
35 650 120 200 411 nm, “D” of 477 nm, “tPZT” of 534 nm, “h” of 8 , and at “Xsource”
of 10 lm. Figure 3(h) shows the polarization selective characteristics.
The Si grating optimized for TE mode is highly selective with an
fundamental TE or TM mode propagation. Figures 2(a) and 2(b) give the  60% CE for TE mode and  10% for a TM mode. Figure 3(i) shows
waveguide modal dispersion with the single moded operation achieved at the change in the coupling efficiency of TE as the period is increased
a waveguide dimension of  466 nm width and  244 nm height with TE to 789 nm (optimized for peak TM coupling efficiency), making the
as the fundamental mode. Figures 2(c) and 2(d), on the other hand, give a grating polarization insensitive. The simulation done for the TM
TM fundamental operation with a dimension of  290 nm width and mode can be found in the supplementary material. Table II shows
 495 nm height. Figure 2(e) shows the TE mode confinement for wave- that TE gratings are more sensitive to the Xsource and duty cycle and
guide dimension of 1.3 lm width and 411 nm height. Figure 2(f) shows are relatively insensitive to small variations in other parameters.
the simulation comparison of the proposed Si-on-PZT overlap coefficient Table III confirms the substrate leakage as a major source of loss.
with the conventional PZT-on-Si architecture. Figure 4 shows the fabrication process flow. The fabrication starts
The waveguide dispersion optimization shows that there is a with the deposition of oriented PZT on MgO. An added step of depos-
small difference in the effective refractive index of TE and TM mode iting a liner layer of Al2O3 (10 nm) on top of PZT was done. The pur-
making a polarization-independent grating coupler possible. We had pose of adding the buffer layer is to prevent the exposure of the PZT
shown a polarization-independent Si grating coupler on GaN13 with a film to the etchant and the plasma that may lead to Pb contamination
refractive index of  2.3, which is similar to PZT. Figure 3(a) shows of the chamber. After this amorphous Si of thickness around 395 nm
the cross section schematic of the Si grating coupler used to in-couple was deposited, followed by deposition of 16 nm of doped amorphous
the Gaussian TE source into the waveguiding medium. Figures 3(b)–3(g) Si. Doped a-Si layer was deposited using Plasma Enhanced CVD

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show the effect of Si grating parameters such as grating period (K), (PECVD). A doped Si layer helps in the fabrication process as it

FIG. 2. Waveguide dispersion with variation in the (a) waveguide height (with waveguide width ¼ 1.3 lm) with an inset showing a schematic of the proposed Si on the PZT
waveguide design; (b) width (with waveguide height ¼ 244 nm); (c) waveguide width (at height ¼ 411 nm) and (d) height (with waveguide width ¼ 290 nm); (e) mode field con-
finement at 1.3 lm waveguide width and 411 nm waveguide height; and (f) overlap comparison between loaded PZT architecture and proposed architecture.

Appl. Phys. Lett. 124, 231105 (2024); doi: 10.1063/5.0191912 124, 231105-3
Published under an exclusive license by AIP Publishing
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FIG. 3. (a) Cross section schematic for simulation; variation of Si grating coupler CE as a function of (b) grating period (K), (c) source angle (h), (d) silicon grating thickness (t),
(e) PZT thickness (tPZT), (f) source position (Xsource), and (g) duty cycle (D) for a TE mode. Simulated transmission characteristic of Si grating coupler demonstrating (h) polari-
zation dependency at optimized TE parameter (K ¼ 645 nm) and (i) polarization independent characteristic (h ¼ 5.8 , K ¼ 789 nm, t ¼ 454 nm).

reduces the effect of charging when doing e-line lithography. A single Figure 5(a) shows the schematic with dimensions of the fabri-
step of 411 nm is etched to obtain a Si waveguide on PZT on MgO cated device obtained using AFM characterization. The other MZI
platform. After passive device characterization, electrodes are depos- dimensions are curved Arm length  580 lm and straight arm length
ited around the MZI and ring resonator to form EO device.  400 lm. The metal used for contacts is Ti/Pt with a waveguide width

TABLE II. Sensitivity of coupling to various parameters.

Sensitivity Sensitivity

Parameter TE TM Parameter TE TM

h 0.38%/h( ) 1.1%/h( ) tPZT 0.0051%/nm 0.04%/nm

t 0.0308%/nm 0.023%/nm Xsource 3%/lm 3.9%/lm
K 0.0695%/nm 0.11%/nm D 1%/nm 0.012%/nm

Appl. Phys. Lett. 124, 231105 (2024); doi: 10.1063/5.0191912 124, 231105-4
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TABLE III. Optical power distribution.

Parameter TE TM Parameter TE TM

Through grating 2% 15% Substrate loss 20% 35%

Backreflection 18% 5% Coupling 60% 45%

of 1.3 lm. Figure 5(a) shows obtained “t” of 110 nm with a K of

774 nm and waveguide width and height of 1.3 lm and 485 nm,
respectively, with a roughness of  4 nm. The dimensions obtained
were simulated giving a per coupler efficiency of
10 dB/coupler, FIG. 4. Schematic for device fabrication process flow.

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FIG. 5. (a) Schematic of the fabricated device showing dimension measured from AFM scanning; (b) comparison of the CE for the simulation of the fabricated grating couplers
and optimized grating coupler; (c) measured optical insertion loss for the waveguide of varying length with K ¼ 774 nm, D ¼ 557 nm, t ¼ 110 nm, and tPZT ¼ 650 nm; (d) wave-
guide loss calculation using insertion loss vs waveguide length slope; (e) optical image of the fabricated MZI interferometer on PZT/MgO base; (f) fabricated MZI response; (g)
cross section schematic for the electrical characterization for PZT quality evaluation post fabrication; (h) P–E loop of the fabricated MZI device; EO measurement of the device
(i) pre-poling on the fabricated device, (j) post-poling; (k) curve showing a blue shift in the optical spectra on the application of applied voltage; and (l) C–V curve of the fabri-
cated device showing the time stability of the ferroelectric domain on poling.

Appl. Phys. Lett. 124, 231105 (2024); doi: 10.1063/5.0191912 124, 231105-5
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TABLE IV. Works on PZT-based EO modulator.  refers to present work.

Substrate PZT integration and orientation Buffer layer Deposition method EO response (pm/V)

Si18 Top, (100) Lanthanides Sol-gel 50–200 (1.2 lm - ellipsometry)

Sapphire19 Top, (100) LaNit Sol-gel 80 (nPZT ¼ 2.4)
Si20 Top, (100) LaNit Sol-gel 96
SiN3 Top, - Lanthanide Sol-gel 13.5
PZT-on-SOI21 Top, (100) MgO Sputter 14 (Reference)
PZT/MgO Bottom, (100) None Sputter 71 (140 peak)—This work

which is  7.8 dB less than the simulated one, and a 6 dB bandwidth of poling stability wherein the PZT material loses its poled state during
40 nm, which closely matches with the simulated design. The differ- low voltage measurement as is evident from the C–V curve in
ence is attributed to the shallow etch waveguide as well as the grating Fig. 5(l). The C–V curve on consecutive high voltage sweep gets
height that is 73% off from the optimized value of 411 nm as seen in poled, which is marked by the shift in the C–V curve to the left,
Fig. 5(b). Figure 5(c) shows the optical characterization of waveguide which returns to its original position on a sweep after 10 min of time
with varying lengths with Fig. 5(d), giving us a loss of
0.056 dB/lm. proving the loss in the orientation of the ferroelectric domain in
The loss is attributed to the use of doped-Si as the top layer for the PZT.16 Thus, despite having a better overlap coefficient, the poling
waveguide and the grating structure. Doped-Si is an absorbing material stability and ability to align the ferroelectric domain in the direction
at the c-band. A possible solution is to use a CVD deposited Si with no of the electric-field play a role in getting the highest possible EO
dopant leading to crystallinity of Si as well as a reduced loss. Another response. Table IV shows the comparison of works done on a PZT-
possible solution could be to use an anti-charging layer as a photoresist based EO modulator with the DC spectrum shift being comparable
to reduce the charging effect during lithography. Figure 5(e) shows the to the best-reported values on dielectric buffer layers. The efficiency
optical image of the fabricated MZI interferometer. Figure 5(f) shows of the present work can further be improved by high-temperature
the optical characterization of the unbalanced MZI with a D L of poling,17 allowing us to have a stable domain poling at lower applied
voltage as well as reducing the gap between the electrodes for poling

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180 nm. Future work involves stabilizing the etch procedure to achieve
a TE or TM mode of operation as well as optimizing using an anti- and measurements.
charging layer for lithography. We have demonstrated a CMOS-compatible PZT platform for Si
The conventional approach uses PZT as an active material on photonic device fabrication. We have optimized PZT on MgO for high
Si with an intermediate buffer layer, while the current proposed orientation with a surface roughness of less than 2 nm enabling. Si
architecture for EO modulator uses PZT as the platform itself to waveguide was simulated with an efficiency of
2.2 dB/coupler for TE
build the photonic device. The advantage of the current approach mode and
3 dB/coupler for TM mode with electrically tunable PZT
over the conventional approach is that the optical field interacts as a platform. Fabrication was done with the Si grating efficiency of
with the electrical field without an intermediate buffer layer and around
10 dB/coupler and a 1 dB bandwidth of 14 nm for a TE
hence increasing the electro-optic interaction. Figure 5(e) shows an Gaussian. The simulated waveguide with fabricated dimension
optical image of the fabricated Si MZI-based EO modulator on the matched well with a loss of
12 dB/coupler and bandwidth of 40 nm.
PZT platform as well as the comparison of the overlap coefficient The DC electro-optic characterization for MZI (Si-on-PZT) shows a
for the current approach with the conventional approach, showing a spectrum shift of 71 pm/V in the C-band. This is a 400% enhancement
four times improvement of overlap coefficient with the proposed in the EO response compared to co-processed PZT-on-SOI architec-
approach. Figure 5(e) shows the schematic for electrical characteri- ture. The enhancement is attributed to the improved electro-optic
zation of the PZT post-fabrication. Figure 5(h) shows a PE loop hys- overlap as well as PZT film quality. Our proposed design has vast
teresis with an unsaturated peak polarization of 60 lC/cm2 with a potential in programmable photonic integrated circuits using an elec-
coercive field of  10 kV/cm, confirming the piezo-electric nature of tronically tunable PZT thin film. Neural networks are areas that rely
the PZT film post-fabrication process (the polarization values are on variable weights to configure the neurons, which can be easily
equal or better than the reported values using the similar stack14,15). achieved by having a PZT-tunable base as the platform.22,23
Figure S4 shows the leakage current characteristic of the test device
post-fabrication. Figures 5(i) and 5(j) show the EO response of the See the supplementary material for TM mode simulation and
fabricated MZI in unpoled state and post-poling, respectively. The comparison with the TE counterpart. The maximum achieved EO
poling process involved applying a fixed bias of 70 V (105 V/cm) on response is shown in the supplementary material.
the EO probes for 1 h and allowing them to cool for 45 min before
starting measurement. The unpoled device shows a negligible shift We acknowledge the Ministry of Electronics and Information
in the optical spectra while we see a blue shift in the spectra post- Technology for support through the Center of Excellence in Quantum
poling evident from Figs. 5(i) and 5(j), respectively. The slope of the Technology. We acknowledge funding from the Ministry of Education,
shift on the application of voltage is plotted in Fig. 5(k), giving a sta- Government of India, for supporting facilities at the Centre for
bilized shift of  71 pm/V with peak shift being 140 pm/V (shown in Nanoscience and Engineering (CeNSE), Indian Institute of Science,
Fig. S3). The reduction of a shift in the spectrum is attributed to the Bangalore. S.K.S. thanks Professor Ramakrishna Rao chair fellowship.

Appl. Phys. Lett. 124, 231105 (2024); doi: 10.1063/5.0191912 124, 231105-6
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AUTHOR DECLARATIONS 9
S. Hiboux, P. Muralt, and T. Maeder, “Domain and lattice contributions to
dielectric and piezoelectric properties of Pb(Zrx, Ti1-x)O3 thin films as a func-
Conflict of Interest tion of composition,” J. Mater. Res. 14, 4307–4318 (1999).
10
The authors have no conflicts to disclose. A. S. Karapuzha, N. K. James, H. Khanbareh, S. Van der Zwaag, and W. Groen,
“Structure, dielectric and piezoelectric properties of donor doped PZT ceramics
across the phase diagram,” Ferroelectrics 504, 160–171 (2016).
Author Contributions 11
S.-Y. Chen, “Texture evolution and electrical properties of oriented PZT thin
Suraj Singh: Conceptualization (lead); Data curation (lead); Formal films,” Mater. Chem. Phys. 45, 159–162 (1996).
analysis (lead); Investigation (lead); Methodology (lead); Resources
12
S.-Y. Chen and I.-W. Chen, “Texture development, microstructure evolution,
and crystallization of chemically derived PZT thin films,” J. Am. Ceram. Soc.
(equal); Supervision (equal); Validation (equal); Visualization (lead);
81, 97–105 (1998).
Writing – original draft (lead); Writing – review & editing (lead). 13
Suraj, S. Rathkanthiwar, D. Nath, S. Raghavan, and S. K. Selvaraja, “GaN-on-
Shankar Kumar Selvaraja: Conceptualization (supporting); Data cura- sapphire photonic circuit with polarization independent grating coupler at
tion (supporting); Supervision (equal); Validation (equal); Writing – 1550 nm,” in Optica Advanced Photonics Congress (Optica Publishing Group,
review & editing (supporting). 2022), p. ITu4B.1.
14
H. Li, Y. Hu, S. Wei, Y. Meng, N. Wang, Q. Zhang, L. Liu, and B. Peng,
“Oxygen plasma-assisted ultra-low temperature sol-gel-preparation of the PZT
DATA AVAILABILITY thin films,” Ceram. Int. 49, 10864–10870 (2023).
15
C.-L. Kao, H.-J. Hsu, H.-C. Lin, J.-H. Hung, S.-W. Wu, C.-Y. Li, Y.-H. Liu, and
The data that support the findings of this study are available from C.-H. Huang, “Air-coupled piezoelectric micromachining ultrasonic transducer
the corresponding author upon reasonable request. based on low-cost and large remnant polarization PZT thin film,” in IEEE
International Ultrasonics Symposium (IUS) (IEEE, 2023), pp. 1–4.
16
S. Su, R. Zuo, S. Lu, Z. Xu, X. Wang, and L. Li, “Poling dependence and
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