We present experimental results on second-harmonic generation in non-stoichiometric, silicon-rich nitride films. The as-deposited film presents a second-order nonlinear coefficient, or χ(2), as high as 8 pm/V. This value can be widely tuned using the electric field induced second harmonic effect, and a maximum value of 22.7 pm/V was achieved with this technique. We further illustrate that the second-order nonlinear coefficient exhibited by these films can be highly dispersive in nature and require further study and analysis to evaluate their viability for in-waveguide applications at telecommunication wavelengths.
