Fabrication of monomode channel waveguides in photosensitive polymer on optical adhesive

Abstract

We present fabrication of optical waveguides in a photosensitive polymer. The process to fabricate monomode polymeric channel waveguides using simple direct ultraviolet (UV) photolithography is optimized. Channel waveguides of width ?2 to 2.4 ?m and height ?1.8 to 2.2 ?m are obtained on development after a crosslinkable negative tone epoxy SU-8 2002 polymer is exposed to UV through a photomask. Norland Optical Adhesive 61 (NOA 61) was used as under- and overclad. The average insertion loss obtained at chip-level is ?11 dB (TE00) and ?12 dB (TM00) for 2-cm waveguide at 1550 nm. 2011 Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers (SPIE).