title: Dispensed polymer waveguides and laser-fabricated couplers for optical interconnects on printed circuit boards.
abstract: Optical interconnects can provide chip-to-chip data communication with much needed bandwidth as processor speed and density keep growing. Optical waveguides and couplers are essential components for implementing optical interconnections. Techniques for directly dispensing polymer waveguides in laser-ablated trenches on printed circuit boards and for fabricating optical couplers are presented for quick prototype of optical interconnects. High-quality UV curable polymer waveguides were routinely fabricated. High-efficiency couplers, blazed grating couplers on sloped waveguides, sloped facet metal film couplers, and reflective-undercut facet couplers can be fabricated by using excimer laser ablation.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory for Physical Sciences, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20740, USA. yleng@lps.umd.edu
authors.forename: Yongzhang
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Leng
authors.forename: Victor
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Yun
authors.forename: Lisa
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Lucas
authors.forename: Warren N
authors.initials: WN
authors.lastname: Herman
authors.forename: Julius
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Goldhar