Wet Chemical Etching of Pb(ZrTi)O 3 Ferroelectric Thin Films for Optical Waveguide Application

In order to develop optical waveguide structures using Pb(ZrTi)O3 ferroelectric thin films, chemical solution deposition and spin-coating on glass substrates were studied. Classical photolithography and wet chemical etching method were applied for the realization of linear and Mach-Zehnder type waveguide structures, having a width of up to 100 ¹m and a irregularity of the border in the 1 ¹m region for an overall length of 20 mm. Optical characterization allows to qualify the ferroelectric material in terms of use for telecommunication applications, coupling of laser light by the M-lines technique allows to study light propagation and the related propagation losses.