Optical printed circuit board with polymer array stitch

A method for optically coupling at least a first waveguide located on an optical printed circuit board (OPCB) to a second optical waveguide of a surface-mounted device surface mounted on the OPCB, comprising:

• providing a flexible substrate structure;
• attaching a first end of the flexible substrate structure to the surface-mounted device;
• and
• attaching a second end of the flexible substrate structure to the OPCB;
• and
• subsequent to attaching the first and second ends of the flexible substrate structure, forming at least a third optical waveguide in the flexible substrate structure so that light can be optically coupled between the second and third waveguides and between the first and third optical waveguides.

An optical arrangement, comprising:

• an optical printed circuit board (OPCB) having at least a first optical waveguide formed therein;
• at least one surface-mounted device mounted to the OPCB, the surface-mounted device including at least a second optical waveguide;
• and
• a flexible waveguide array structure having at least a third waveguide disposed therein, a first end of the flexible waveguide array structure being surface mounted to the surface-mounted device for optically coupling light between the second and third optical waveguides and a second end of the flexible waveguide array structure being surface mounted to the OPCB for optically light between the first optical waveguide and the third optical waveguide.

A method for optically coupling at least a first optical waveguide located on an optical printed circuit board (OPCB) to a second optical waveguide of a surface-mounted device surface mounted on the OPCB, comprising:

• fastening a first end of a polymer substrate structure to a surface-mounted device located on the OPCB;
• fastening a second end of the polymer substrate structure to the OPCB;
• determining first and second locations at which a waveguide core is to respectively start and end so that the waveguide core optically couples the first optical waveguide to the second optical waveguide;
• based on the identified first and second locations, creating a mask layout pattern that is to be transferred to a photosensitive material in the polymer substrate structure;
• and
• projecting the mask layout pattern onto the photosensitive material to photolithographically form the waveguide core in the photosensitive material.