Fabrication of 17 x 17 polymer/Si arrayed waveguide grating with flat spectral response using steam-redissolution technique

Arrayed waveguide grating (AWG) is a key device in the wavelength-division multiplexing (WDM) system, and the flat spectral response of the AWG device is required. In this paper, the RIE process has been improved. By using the steam-redissolution technique, the insertion loss and the crosstalk have been reduced. Experimental results show that the central wavelength is 1550.86 nm, the channel spectral response flatness is about 1.5 dB, 3-dB bandwidth is about 0.478 nm, insertion loss is 10.5 dB, and crosstalk is about -22 dB. The insertion loss of an AWG device is reduced by about 3 dB for the central channel and 4.5 dB for the edge channels, and the crosstalk is reduced by 2.5 dB after the steam-redissolution.