Abstract

Integrated free-standing planar silicon photonic membranes with a complete free access to each of their sides may offer interesting practical opportunities to develop advanced photonic sensors. One challenge is to remove the substrate without jeopardizing the photonic properties of the sensing area. Here, we present a reproducible process for the fabrication of substrate-less silicon photonic crystal cavities. With such a process, substrate-less windows as large as 1.2 mm X 60 µm can be opened, which allows us to access a large amount of sensor areas from both sides. We show that cavities with quality factors as high as 3000 are unaffected by the process.

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