Thomas Bert Gorczyca

Self-Aligned Single-Mode Polymer Waveguide Interconnections for Efficient Chip-to-Chip Optical Coupling

Single-mode (SM) ultrashort optical interconnections between the fibers and waveguides using self-forming polymeric waveguides with low optical losses at 1300 and 1550 nm were demonstrated. The localized refractive index in the SM regime is estimated by measuring the surface topography induced by monomer diffusion during the waveguide formation. A loss less than -1 dB can be obtained from self-aligning SM-to-multimode (MM) fibers and SM-to-SM fibers interconnections, respectively. A self-formed waveguide-to-fiber interconnection is fabricated and measured with loss less than 0.2 dB at 1550 nm. The polymer waveguide relaxes the positioning requirements for single-mode chip-to-chip optical interconnections, showing great potential to improve the short-term yield and long-term reliability

Photo-defined polymeric photonic materials and processes

A photo patterned fabrication process for manufacture of passive polymer composite waveguide structures and devices is presented. The process takes advantage of compatibility between certain polymer/high vapor pressure monomer blends and their refractive index differences to directly photo define passive waveguide structures. With suitable catalysts, monomers present in the composite blend are polymerized in exposed areas, while allowed to evaporate in unexposed areas during a brief post exposure bake. Areas thus produced will have a different composition (i.e. refractive index) in exposed vs. unexposed areas and different thickness due to reactant loss. Composite blends consisting of polysulfone/epoxy or acrylic/epoxy have excellent compatibility for providing photo defined waveguide core regions in either the unexposed areas or exposed areas of processed thin films. Optical loss measurement comparisons for bulk polymer samples and composite thin films to the photo patterned waveguides indicate loss in the patterned waveguides are similar to the polymer intrinsic loss. Additionally, by taking advantage of the process providing control over refractive index and surface topography, other photonic components such as micro lenses can be fabricated.

High Performance 1.2kV-2.5kV 4H-SiC MOSFETs with Excellent Process Capability and Robustness

In this paper, we show state of the art, low on-resistance, 25mW/1.2kV and 43mW/2.5kV SiC MOSFETs with excellent design robustness and process control such that the parametric spread of key device characteristics are approaching Si products. The impact of starting material variability on device performance is shown and design sensitivity curves are presented.

Toward multifunctional optical integration: an adaptive lithographic method for patterning optical structures

A new method of interconnecting various optoelectronic components is discussed. Offset error up to 25 microns can be corrected to achieve single mode alignment accuracies. Several planar optical devices were photocomposed using the adaptive photolithographic method and these have been shown to perform with the desired characteristics.

A polymer-based platform technology for integrated photonics

Polymers have been studied as an alternate material to silica for optical interconnects and photonic devices for the last decade. In this paper we review the work performed at GE Global Research in the area of polymer based material systems for photonic applications. A description of the application of the technology to several different areas is presented. Some of these application areas include optical interconnects, optoelectronic integration and electro-optical devices using polymer material systems. The overall effort includes areas of research from the basic chemistry of polymer optical materials to the development of photonic components. Specifically the use of polymer materials as a platform technology for hybrid integration in the development of multi-functional sub systems is reviewed.

Radiation mode coupling between active and passive chips based on a self-formed compact polymer interconnect for single-mode chip-to-chip optoelectronic integration

Based on radiation mode coupling through a self-formed polymer waveguide extension, efficient single-mode optical coupling can be achieved between active and passive chips while relaxing the stringent positioning requirements. A 20dB improvement can be achieved according to simulation results. Single-mode waveguides have been successfully demonstrated using GE photo-definable polymer materials.

High-density multimode photonic backplane

The development of a photonic backplane for high-speed and high-bandwidth communications is presented. This hybrid, multimode, multi-channel backplane structure contains both electrical and optical interconnects, suitable for next-generation high-speed servers with terabit backplane capacity. Removable and all-passively aligned high density interconnects on this backplane are achieved by polymer based optical waveguides with integrated micro-optics and VCSEL arrays on conventional printed circuit boards. The fabrication of this photonic backplane requires few additional steps outside a traditional board-manufacturing environment and is largely compatible with existing processes.