| From living rooms to operating rooms, our world is becoming dependent on information technology. For half a century a transformation in computing and communications has been borne by semiconductor microelectronics, but to serve us tomorrow, new materials transcending the performance and cost of current technology must be developed. An emerging optical material is the photonic bandgap crystal, which so fundamentally manipulates the emission and propagation of light that photons may be harnessed to eclipse what electronics accomplish today. However, the crystals consist of intricate, sub micrometre structures that are complex to fabricate, and even harder to engineer for technological applications. Indeed, fabrication challenges have inhibited photonic crystal progress. This thesis responds by enabling photonic crystal engineering through a chiral thin film fabrication technique known as glancing angle deposition. By oblique vapour deposition onto rotating substrates, the approach creates tetragonal lattices of square spirals with widths of a few hundred nanometres, predicted to yield strong photonic bandgaps at useful optical wavelengths. Within the scope of the thesis research, high resolution, high density direct write lithography is developed to deliver large area crystal substrates with extensive design freedom. The evolution of square spiral photonic crystal thin films on such substrates is analyzed, and new deposition methods are devised to allow engineering of the photonic bandgap by reducing the dimensions and enhancing the fine structure of the square spirals. Optical characterization is performed to evaluate the presence of a complete, three dimensional photonic bandgap, confirm an engineered bandgap at 1.65 mum, and quantify the improvement in crystal quality to a bandgap width of 10.9%. With a potential for use as photonic waveguides, the engineering of embedded, functional air and dielectric defects is also established. Furthermore, the thesis develops solutions to enhance existing applications of glancing angle deposition thin films, including the ability to control the porosity and generate nanoscale, fibrous film morphologies. Microfluidic networks are demonstrated as a new application of columnar thin films. Through the achievement of crystal engineering in square spiral thin films, the thesis seeks to contribute to the realization of photonic crystals as a key technology for a demanding future. |
