Electrical-optical circuit boards optical waveguides and coupling elements based on the thin glass layer concept

A new approach to realize optical layers in thin glass sheets for hybrid electrical-optical integration into printed circuit boards (PCB) is presented and first results are discussed. The multimode optical waveguides in the glass layers are made by ion exchange from salt melt. The glass layers can be laminated in between standard PCB base materials. The coupling elements are made of thin glass too.