Dispensed polymer waveguides and laser-fabricated couplers for optical interconnects on printed circuit boards

Leng, Yongzhang; Yun, V.; Lucas, L.; Herman, Warren N.; Goldhar, J.

doi:10.1364/ao.46.000602

Cited by 8 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 15 publications

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“…So far waveguides are usually obtained with costly and resource‐consuming technologies such as photolithography, direct laser writing, deposition of an optical material into grooves created by hot‐embossing, and laser ablation . A combination of inkjet printing and flexography was reported as the way to create optical waveguides .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Inkjet Printing of Optical Waveguides for Single‐Mode Operation

Klestova

Cheplagin

Keller

et al. 2018

Advanced Optical Materials

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Inkjet printing of high‐refractive‐index optical waveguides designed for single‐mode operation is presented. A waveguide core is printed with titanium dioxide nanoparticles that form a straight strip with a high refractive index. The quartz glass without preliminary processing is used as a substrate. The optimal waveguide thickness to provide single‐mode operation in the near‐IR range is calculated. The number of printed layers necessary to obtain the required thickness and the refractive index is established. The printing parameters to provide suitable morphology for waveguide application are thoroughly studied. Measurements confirm light propagation through the printed waveguides at 1.55 µm wavelength, and the mean power loss is estimated as 3.52 dB cm−1. The branched structure is printed, and its ability to transmit and split light is demonstrated. The received data have a directly applied value for application in the future development of integrated optical circuits and printing technologies.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Inkjet Printing of Optical Waveguides for Single‐Mode Operation

Klestova

Cheplagin

Keller

et al. 2018

Advanced Optical Materials

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“…Currently, such structures are typically either created by direct-writing [1,2] into spin-coated materials, with subsequent wet-chemical development and removal of excess material, by direct needle-dispensing onto a substrate [3] or even into another polymer [4,5], or by depositing an optical material into grooves created by hot-embossing [6] or laser-ablation [7]. While all methods offer low attenuation below 0.1 dB cm −1 , with needle dispensing standing out in particular for its simplicity and robustness, they have only been demonstrated at the wafer-scale, and are difficult to use at the macro-scale.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ink-jet printed optical waveguides

Bollgruen

Wolfer²,

Gleißner

et al. 2017

Flex. Print. Electron.

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Optical waveguides were fabricated on flexible foil substrates by ink-jet printing, to complement and enhance printed flexible electronics with optical networks. The 145 μm wide and 20 μm high transparent polymer tracks were created by printing subsequent tracks of an acrylate ink on polymer foil. A printable, optically transparent material was prepared by a combination of an acrylate resin with a low-viscosity, co-polymerising acrylate. This solved the problem of solvent evaporation for substrates with low heat tolerance. Thermally induced pinning, used to prevent the ink from spreading out on the substrate was achieved by heating the substrate to 60 °C, and found to be strongly affected by the time lapse between deposition of the individual layers. This tool allowed to increase the aspect ratio of the printed tracks from 0.07 to 0.17, and the contact angle of the printed tracks from 15°to 37°. After completion of the deposition step, the waveguides were polymerised under UV light, and covered by a printed upper cladding layer. In the optical evaluation, transmission could be demonstrated with an attenuation in the range of 1.4 dB cm −1 for a wavelength of 785 nm, with a significant portion of material attenuation.

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“…Deviations from the 1:1 aspect ratio will increase coupling losses and reduce the overall transmission speed of the optical waveguide. Multimode waveguide cores have been syringed with a height to width ratio of 1:15 (∼16 μm tall, ∼250 μm wide) in a single pass [17], and 1:6 (∼40 μm tall, ∼250 μm wide) by stacking multiple passes [18]. Single mode waveguide cores have been produced by syringe dispensing, which have an aspect ratio of 1:20 (∼0.8 μm tall, ∼16 μm wide), using a micropipette with an inner diameter of 10 μm [19].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Process characterization for direct dispense fabrication of polymer optical multi-mode waveguides

Dingeldein

Walczak

Swatowski

et al. 2013

J. Micromech. Microeng.

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The use of optical waveguide technology in printed circuit boards offers improvement in high speed data transfer. Transitioning current material deposition techniques for waveguide fabrication from small scale laboratory environments to large scale manufacturing presents significant physical and financial challenges. To address these issues, a syringe based direct dispense tool was characterized for repeatable direct write dispensing of blanket layers of waveguide material over a range of thicknesses (25–220 µm), reducing waste material and affording the ability to utilize large substrates. This tool was also used to directly dispense discrete multimode waveguide cores requiring no UV definition or chemical development. The ability to directly dispense waveguides reduces production costs by eliminating material waste and the need for costly photo-masks. The direct dispense waveguide cores had near circular cross sections ∼50 µm in diameter, with total optical losses in the range of 0.06–0.09 dB cm–1 at 850 nm compared to <0.05 dB cm–1 losses of lithographically fabricated square waveguides. The most critical process variables for dispensing functioning polymer waveguides are identified and discussed.

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Dispensed polymer waveguides and laser-fabricated couplers for optical interconnects on printed circuit boards

Cited by 8 publications

References 15 publications

Inkjet Printing of Optical Waveguides for Single‐Mode Operation

Inkjet Printing of Optical Waveguides for Single‐Mode Operation

Ink-jet printed optical waveguides

Process characterization for direct dispense fabrication of polymer optical multi-mode waveguides

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