Optics and Optical Interconnect Technology

These characteristics show that perfluorinated polyimides are promising materials for waveguides in integrated optics and optical interconnect technology. The thermal, mechanical, and optical properties of perfluorinated polyimides can be controlled by copolymerization in the same manner as partially fluorinated polyimides. ... 

FIGURE 1 Example of an element (pixel) of a smart pixel array. [Reprinted by permission of SPIE—The International Society for Optical Engineering, Neff, J. A. (1996). Review on the Status of Optical Interconnect Technology, Proceedings of Materials, Devices, and Systems for Optoelectronic Processing 2848, p. 106-117.]... 

B.L. Booth, Optical CrossLinks, Inc., Polymer Waveguides as Optical Interconnect Technology , presentation 14 Annual Workshop on Interconnections Within High-Speed Digital Systems, sponsored by IEEE Lasers and Electro-Optics Society, Santa Fe, NM, May 4-6, 2003. 

Much of this early effort dealt with modulator technology that is considered too slow (1-100 kilohertz) for high-speed applications such as optical interconnection and memory read/write. This includes modulators based on electrooptic effects in ferroelectric liquid crystals (ELCs) and in a ceramic containing lead, lanthanum, zinc, and titanium (PLZT). These electrooptic materials are bonded in some fashion to Si circuits to create hybrid SPAs. 

The printing fluids are often UV-curable, heat-sensitive, or conductive polymers for various applications. The resolution of the 3-D structure is limited by the size of droplet or nozzle, usually with diameters of 25-125 pm. The quality of the printing system determines the speed and precision of the spray and stage control. This technology is adopted in various applications of optical interconnect, electrical devices, microfluidic structures, and assembly. 

Several new surface micromachining processes utilize the thick-fihn polymer SU-8 for fabrication of channels, wells, and other passive microfluidics that are integrated with electronics or optical detection devices. The development of actuation schemes and interconnect technologies may make integrated polymer microfluidic systems more attractive, although more research is needed for these components as well as the integration of the polymers with other materials to realize truly integrated systems. 

---