Projects»
micro resist technology GmbH
Project number
16SV2011
founded by the Federal Ministry of Economy and Labour (BMWA), Microsystems 2004 – 2009
(BMBF – German Ministry for Education and Research)
Project duration
01/2005 – 12/2008
Project objectives
The aim of the project was the development of an electrical-optical printed circuits board consisting of integrated waveguides based on special thin glass foils, which allows an electrical and an optical data transfer. The optical structures or design can be manufactured either by the mechanical patterning of the glasses in combination with optical polymers (organic based materials) or by the modification of the glass properties by ion exchange (inorganic based materials). During the project “NegIT” micro resist technology developed materials for the manufacture of polymer wave guides for the integration into printed circuits board, which are currently the produced products EpoCore and EpoClad offered to user. Based on the results of the NeGit project materials with a defined lower refractive index comparable to glass were required for the tasks within FuBo. These new requirements for the development of materials were achieved by the use of commercially available epoxy resins.
Project benefit
Extensive research about light sensitive material mixtures of aromatical and aliphatical epoxy resins and their characterization in regard to layer formation, optical transparency, refractive index, thermal stability, UV curing and lithographic properties led to several material combinations and products for the manufacture of waveguides with a tunable refractive index in the range of n = 1.52 to 1.59 at the wavelength λ = 850 nm. The possibility to tune the numerical aperture by the use of patterned thin glass foils for wave guide manufacture is caused by the filling of the trenches (core) in the glass and their coverage (cladding) with the developed materials. The advantageous of this technology is that a photo lithographical patternable material is not needed.
Fig.: Process steps for the manufacture of a double sides polymer wave guides on thin glass foils : a) Core material, film thickness (FT) = 50 µm, UV patterned, b) Double sides crosslinked cladding material with FT = 70 µm, c) Hard bake up to 180 °C
Fig.: Embedded wave guides on planar thin glass foils with 0.3 dB/cm @ 850 nm
Finally the product range of micro resist technology GmbH is extended with these new material compositions for the manufacture of polymer wave guides, beside the known products EpoCore and EpoClad. The developed materials are also suitable for the manufacture of optical components with specific requirements concerning transparency and refractive index for further applications. The increasing request from customers for cost efficient products for the mass fabrication of optical components expects excellent chances for commercialization of the new developed materials.
Outlook
Based on the project results and the knowledge for further modification of the developed materials new future applications will arise. This is especially of important for the material saving patterning method the ink jetting and the laser direct writing for the manufacture of volume holograms and of single mode wave guides. This will lead to new applications with a demand for cost efficient materials for future mass production.
