Silicon based optical devices – photonic applications of anisotropically nanostructured silicon

Abstract

Abstract Anisotropic nanostructuring of bulk silicon (Si) wafers leads to a significant in‐plane optical anisotropy of single porous silicon (PSi) layers. Additionally a variation of the etching current in time allows a controlled modification of the porosity along the growth direction and therefore a three‐dimensional variation of the refractive index (in‐plane and in‐depth). This technique can be important for photonic applications since it is the basis of a development of a variety of novel, polarization‐sensitive, silicon‐based optical devices: retarders, dichroic Bragg reflectors, dichroic microcavities and planar Si‐based polarizers. (© 2005 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)