title: Effect of fluorine plasma treatment on PMMA and their application to passive optical waveguides.
abstract: Poly(methylmethacrylate) (PMMA) has been a good prospect for the development of fully amorphous and highly transparent microphotonic devices. The possibilities of a hot embossing technique for the polymeric fabrication of optical waveguides were investigated in this work. A new technique based on radiofrequency plasma treatment was studied for thermal and optical properties, including glass transition temperature, thermal stability, refractive index, and optical transmission loss of PMMA. It is shown that the plasma treatment is effective in altering the functional groups of polymer surfaces without affecting the bulk properties, resulting in effective control of refractive indices and optical transmission losses for photonic applications.
authors.affiliation: Advanced Materials Division, Korea Research Institute of Chemical Technology, PO Box 107, Yusong, Taejon 305-600, South Korea. psjin@krict.re.kr
authors.forename: Soo-Jin
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Park
authors.forename: Ki-Sook
authors.initials: KS
authors.lastname: Cho
authors.forename: Choon-Gi
authors.initials: CG
authors.lastname: Choi