The increasing demand for planar polymer optical waveguides integrated into electrical printed circuit boards (PCB) calls for mass production capabilities: Hence, appropriate materials, systems, assembly concepts and production technologies become vital, in order to guarantee a high reproducibility and quality of the waveguides. The manufacturing and assembly costs have to be kept on a low level, while the integration of the highly sensible waveguides into the rough environment of PCB's with their cheap and non-ideal substrates is a particular challenge.The present paper describes an assembly and manufacturing technology for electro-optical circuit boards which meets these requirements.First, the manufacturing and characterization of multimode polymer waveguides is presented and the process for layer deposition and structuring is described. Specific attention is given to the reproducibility of these processes ensuring the high optical quality of the waveguides. Additionally, some problems arising from the integration of the waveguides into the PCB's are discussed.Second, various light coupling concepts are presented. In particular, a novel mirror element based on parabolic reflectors is described. The optical design was calculated analytically and optimized using computer simulations. The mirror element was fabricated using injection molding in a reproducible manner at high quantities and lowest cost.To allow for a wider tolerance in the subsequent assembly steps our novel electro-optical transceivers concept facilitates the use of conventional SMD-placement machines for mounting which makes the process very cost effective. This concept was demonstrated successfully and is also described within the third section.In the last part the practical use of this building set is illustrated with different successfully realized applications in the field of ICT and optical sensor technology.
Abstract. A silicon device to simplify the coupling of multiple single-mode fibers to embedded single-mode waveguides has been developed. The silicon device features alignment structures that enable a passive alignment of fibers to integrated waveguides. For passive alignment, precisely machined V-grooves on a silicon device are used and the planar lightwave circuit board features high-precision structures acting as a mechanical stop. The approach has been tested for up to eight fiber-to-waveguide connections. The alignment approach, the design, and the fabrication of the silicon device as well as the assembly process are presented. The characterization of the fiber-to-waveguide link reveals total coupling losses of (0.45 AE 0.20 dB) per coupling interface, which is significantly lower than the values reported in earlier works. Subsequent climate tests reveal that the coupling losses remain stable during thermal cycling but increases significantly during an 85°C/85 Rh-test. All applied fabrication and bonding steps have been performed using standard MOEMS fabrication and packaging processes.
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