Precise Polymer Micro-Optical Systems

Abstract

The demand for precise micro-optical elements and subsystems is increasing drastically, influenced mainly by the exploding information and communications markets. For many applications, technologies capable of high-volume production of these elements are needed. Favored methods are replication technologies such as injection molding, hot embossing, or UV molding. The challenge for materials scientists is to synthesize materials that can be formed into micro-optical structures and that can resist extreme environmental conditions during operation and stocking (e.g., temperature changes from −45°C to +125°C).

Low-loss multimode waveguides using organic-inorganic hybrid materials

“…In this two-stage process an inorganic-organic copolymer is synthesized. 1,2 Direct UV patterning process is schematically represented in Figure 1.…”

“…ORMOCER ® s have attracted considerable attention for application in waveguide or micro-optical structure. 1,2 These polymeric optical waveguides have become a subject of interest for use in optical communication and optical interconnections 3 because they can offer such advantages as flexibility and productivity. 4,5 Among the several techniques that can be applied to fabricate polymeric optical waveguide, dry etching method such as reactive ion etching (RIE) is often used because these techniques can offer excellent etching profile.…”

Two-Photon Polymerization of Inorganic-Organic Hybrid Polymers as Scalable Technology Using Ultra-Short Laser Pulses

“…The adaptation of polymers to laser beam characteristics and vice versa is very challenging from the scientific as well as from the technological point of view. Besides the implementation of two-photon absorption microscopy (Denk et al, 1990;Denk & Svoboda, 1997) and spectroscopy (Asaka et al, 1998;Yamaguchi & Tahara, 2003), TPA is ® s for microsystems which are applied, for example, as optical interconnects or waveguides (Streppel et al, 2002;Uhlig et al, 2006), in microoptics (Bräuer et al, 2001;Houbertz et al, 2006), in electro-optical applications (Robertsson et al, 1998;Houbertz et al, 2008a), as dielectric layers (Haas et al, 2006), and as passivation materials for the encapsulation of microelectronic devices and components (Houbertz et al, 2001;2003a;2003b). The processing of an ORMOCER ® typically consists of two steps.…”

Impact of photoinitiators on the photopolymerization and the optical properties of inorganic–organic hybrid polymers

“…This flexibility enables one to tailor their properties as recommended by the application. [3][4][5][6] Upon sol-gel processing of alkoxysilane precursors, inorganic-oxidic nanoscale structural units ͑0.7-1 nm͒ 7 are formed which are organically modified. As organic polymerizable unit, typically acryl or styryl functionalities are used which account for the negative resist behavior of the hybrid resins.…”

“…Although the materials have been established already for a variety of applications, [1][2][3][4][5][6] there has been little effort so far to correlate their processing, i.e., their photochemical or thermal treatment, to their physical properties such as, e.g., optical properties. In this letter, the influence of the UV initiator concentration on the degree of conversion of the methacrylic side chain ͑henceforth referred to as degree of polymeriza-tion͒ within a hybrid polymer model system is followed by Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy ͑FTIR͒ spectroscopy.…”