Jon V. DeGroot

Cost-Effective Multimode Polymer Waveguides for High-Speed On-Board Optical Interconnects

Cost-effective multimode polymer waveguides, suitable for use in high-speed on-board optical interconnections, are presented. The fundamental light transmission properties of the fabricated waveguides are studied under different launch conditions and in the presence of input misalignments. Low loss (~0.04 dB/cm at 850 nm) and low crosstalk (<-30 dB) performance, relaxed alignment tolerances (plusmn20 mum) and high-speed operation at a 10-Gb/s data rate are achieved. No degradation in the high-speed link performance is observed when offset input launches are employed. Moreover, a range of useful waveguide components that add functionality and enable complex on-board topologies are presented. The optical transmission characteristics of the fabricated components are investigated and it is shown that excellent performance is achieved. Excess losses as low as 0.01 dB per waveguide crossing, the lowest reported value for such components, and bending losses below 1 dB for 90-degree and S-shaped bends are obtained even with multimode fiber launches. Moreover, high-uniformity power splitting and low-loss signal combining are achieved with Y-shaped splitter/combiners while a variable splitting ratio between 30%-75% is demonstrated with the use of multimode couplers. Overall, the devices presented are attractive potential candidates for use in on-board optical links.

Cost Effective Optical Waveguide Components for Printed Circuit Applications

The current challenges facing the adoption of optical transmission in printed circuit applications will be discussed and our recent efforts establishing silicone polymers provide a viable route to manufacturable cost effective hybrid electric-optic printed circuit boards will be presented.

Siloxane Materials for Optical Applications

Siloxanes, which can be viewed as hybrids of glass and organic materials, have been used to fabricate polymer waveguides and devices that exploit the large thermo-optical effect of this material. Siloxanes have many unique properties including good thermal stability, chemical resistance, tunable refractive index, tunable mechanical properties and excellent photo-stability. The refractive index of siloxane polymer is composition dependent and generally ranges from 1.4 to 1.54. Introduction of porosity or composition modification can further expand refractive index range to 1.15~1.63. The loss and absorption characteristics for a variety of silicone-based polymers are examined and an example of a UV curable polymer coating illustrates the flexibility of the silicone polymer family to be tailored to meet specific application needs.

Highly transparent silicone materials

Silicone based polymers possess a unique set of properties that makes them highly suitable for optical applications. In addition to their excellent thermal stability, mechanical properties, and ease of processing, they are highly transparent in the ultraviolet, visible, and selected bands of the near-IR spectra. The loss and absorption characteristics for a variety of silicone based polymers are examined and an example of a recently developed ultra-violet transparent polymer coating that is UV cured illustrates the flexibility of the silicone polymer family to be tailored to meet specific application needs.

High reliability of silicone materials for use as polymer waveguides

Silicones are known for their excellent performance in applications with harsh environmental conditions. They are very well known for their high temperature stability, resistance to moisture and other adverse conditions. This paper will overview key properties of siloxanes that make them attractive materials for numerous photonics device applications with emphasis on polymer waveguides. Both thermal-mechanical and optical properties will be reviewed. Testing of key optical properties of several siloxane materials, both before and after exposure to heat, humidity, and high optical flux will be discussed. Fabrication and processing for production of polymer waveguides, and the resulting polymer device performance will be shown. Finally, the high reliability of siloxane based waveguides is demonstrated by the Telcordia testing of a fully functional, packaged, Variable Optical Attenuator (VOA).

Novel silicone materials for LED packaging and opto-electronics devices

Silicone based materials have attracted considerable attention from Light Emitting Diode (LED) manufacturers. In LEDs, silicones can function in several roles that include optical lenses, stress relieving encapsulants, mechanical protection and light path materials. The key attributes of silicones that make them attractive materials for high brightness (HB) LEDs include their excellent transparency in the UV-visible region, their non-discoloring behavior and their stable thermo-mechanical properties. The first part of this paper/presentation will describe recent silicone materials development efforts directed towards providing LED manufacturers with silicone materials solutions for LED device fabrication. Injection molding of novel silicone resin based materials will be discussed as a viable route for high throughput LED device manufacturing. For other portions of the light spectrum, specifically at telecom wavelengths, the performances of silicone based materials are also verified and this makes them attractive materials for numerous photonics device applications. The second part of this paper/presentation will describe recent demonstrations of siloxane for use as waveguides for datacom and telecom applications. A Variable Optical Attenuator (VOA) utilizing silicone based waveguides (exploiting dn/dT property) and an Optical Backplane built from silicone waveguides and out-of-plane mirrors built on glass and FR-4 substrates are discussed.

Synthesis and use of colloidal silica for reinforcement in silicone elastomers

Abstract Aqueous suspensions of colloidal silicas are readily silylated with either chlorosilanes or disiloxanes in the presence of acid and isopropyl alcohol without aggregation of the silica particle. By using a mixture of chlorosilanes or disiloxanes, spherical nanoparticles with controlled functionality can be made and transferred to an organic phase to provide stable, water free suspensions. The hydrophobic silica particles readily disperse into silicone polymers. At sufficient loading levels, they provide mechanical reinforcement comparable to traditional fillers but with improved clarity and lower viscosities. Modulus and durometer control in the cured elastomer is possible by varying the ratio of the vinyl concentration on the filler particle to the vinyl concentration in the polymer phase.

Terabit capacity passive polymer optical backplane

A novel, low-loss, low-crosstalk optical backplane with scalable architecture using a planar array of multimode polymer waveguides is presented. Passive strict non-blocking interconnection of 10-cards is enabled via 100 waveguides each capable of 10 Gb/s operation.

Multimode siloxane polymer waveguides for robust high-speed interconnects

Novel multimode waveguide interconnects fabricated from high-reliability siloxane polymers are presented. The propagation characteristics are investigated and the viability of the waveguides for robust high-speed transmission at 10 Gb/s is successfully demonstrated.

Polymeric optical interconnect for chip-to-chip communication

An optical interconnect has been produced on FR-4 board. The interconnect consists of photo-defined optical layers coupled to VCSELs and photodetectors via out of plane mirrors. Materials, fabrication methods and test results will be discussed.