High-throughput manufacturing of photonic integrated circuit (PIC) waveguides using multiple exposures
AssigneeArizona Board of Regents on Behalf of the University of Arizona
InventorsLinan Jiang, Stanley K. H. Pau, Robert A. Norwood, Thomas L. Koch
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Abstract
In accordance with a method of forming a waveguide in a polymer film disposed on a substrate, a plurality of regions on a polymer film are selectively exposed to a first dosage of radiation. The polymer film is formed from a material having a refractive index that decreases by exposure to the radiation and subsequent heating. At least one region of the polymer film that was not previously exposed to the radiation is selectively exposing to a second dosage of radiation. The second dosage of radiation is less than the first dosage of radiation. The polymer film is heated to complete curing of the polymer film.
Claims10
A method of forming a waveguide in a polymer film disposed on a substrate, comprising:
- selectively exposing a plurality of regions on a polymer film to a first dosage of radiation, the plurality of regions defining side cladding regions, the polymer film being formed from a material having a refractive index that decreases by exposure to the radiation and subsequent heating;
- selectively exposing to a second dosage of radiation at least one region of the polymer film that was not previously exposed to the radiation to define an upper cladding region over the side cladding regions and over at least one core region located between adjacent ones of the side cladding regions, the second dosage or radiation being less than the first dosage of radiation;
- and
- subsequently heating the polymer film to cause a refractive index of the exposed regions of the polymer film to decrease and to cause a refractive index of unexposed regions of the polymer film to increase so that the refractive index in the unexposed regions is greater than in the exposed regions.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.