Deposition and characterization of germanium sulphide glass planar waveguides

Germanium sulphide glass thin films have been deposited on CaF₂ and Schott N-PSK58 glass substrates directly by means of chemical vapor deposition (CVD). The deposition rate of germanium sulphide glass film by this CVD process is estimated about 12 μm/hr at 500°C. These films have been characterized by micro-Raman spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction (XRD), and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Their transmission range extends from 0.5μm to 7μm measured by UV-VIS-NIR and FT-IR spectroscopy. The refractive index of germanium sulphide glass film measured by prism coupling technique was 2.093±0.008 and the waveguide loss measured at 632.8nm by He-Ne laser was 2.1±0.3 dB/cm.