Printable thermo-optic polymer switches utilizing imprinting and ink-jet printing

Abstract

We demonstrate a printable Thermo-Optic (TO) switch utilizing imprinting and ink-jet printing techniques. The material system, optical and thermal designs are discussed. Imprinting technique is used to transfer a 2 × 2 switch pattern from a flexible mold into a UV15LV polymer bottom cladding. Ink-jet printing is further used to deposit a SU-8 polymer core layer on top. Operation of the switch is experimentally demonstrated up to a frequency of 1 kHz, with switching time less than 0.5 ms. The printing technique demonstrates great potential for high throughput, roll-to-roll fabrication of low cost photonic devices.

Polymer-Based Hybrid-Integrated Photonic Devices for Silicon On-Chip Modulation and Board-Level Optical Interconnects

“…With the designed n g =20. 4, we estimate the in-device γ 33 to be 74pm/V, significantly more than the 59pm/V in our another work on a non-band-engineered slot PCW [72].…”

“…An n g of ~6 of the PCW taper over the optical bandwidth of interest provides an effective interface for coupling between the slow light mode of the slot PCW (n g =20. 4) and the fast light in the silicon slot waveguides (n g ~3). In other words, the PCW taper gradually increases (slows down) the group index (propagating light) from the interface with the mode converter to the interface with the high n g slot PCW.…”

“…In addition to passive components, the Thermo-Optic (TO) and Electro-Optic (EO) effects in polymers have been used for the realization of active devices [3][4][5]. EO polymer based optical modulators offer several advantages over the mature lithium niobate (LiNbO 3 ) modulators due to the exclusive properties of polymer materials [2,[6][7][8][9].…”

Ultraviolet imprinting and aligned ink-jet printing for multilayer patterning of electro-optic polymer modulators

“…Note that, although in the present work, the waveguide layers are deposited using spin-coating and patterned by imprinting, these layers can also be ink-jet printed with modified viscosity and surface tension. For example, for the UV15LV layer, we have previously shown its printability when demonstrating the thermo-optic switch [13]. The key advantage in this fabrication technique is the utilization of ink-jet printing method for patterning both bottom/ground and top/driving electrode layers, without the need for evaporation or lift-off processes.…”

“…The feature step height is 0.5μm which equals the ridge height of the waveguide. The detailed mold fabrication process has been described before [13]. A 350~400nm bottom silver electrode layer along with alignment marks is ink-jet printed onto the silicon substrate, as shown in Fig.2(b).…”