Study of refractive index and thickness of TiO₂/ormosil planar waveguide

Hybrid titania/ormosil waveguide films have been prepared by sol-gel method at low thermal treatment temperature of 150℃. The influence of processing parameters including the molar ratios of Ti(OBu)_4/glycidoxypropyltrimethoxysilane (GLYMO) and H_2O/Ti(OBu)_4 (expressed as R), especially aging of sol, on the refractive index and thickness of film was investigated. The optical properties of films were measured with Scanning Electron Microscope and m-line spectroscopy. The results indicate that the film thickness increases with the aging time of sol, but the variation of refractive index as a function of aging time of sol depends on the relative ratio of GLYMO to Ti-alkoxide. The relation between film thickness and corresponding sol viscosity is linear as the volume of GLYMO is 80% within the range of measured data.