Polymer optical interconnects - a scalable large-area panel processing approach

A flexible approach to producing optical interconnects on 609.6 * 609.6 mm large-area panels is demonstrated. Stepwise projection patterning from 101.6 * 101.6 mm masks has generated optical waveguide patterns over the whole panel using large-area projection lithography equipment. The waveguide routing design allows optical waveguides on different 1.01.6 * 101.6 mm tiles to be interconnected. Four different waveguide connecting geometries in the border region between tiles have been fabricated and tested. Multimode waveguides from inorganic-organic hybrid polymers (ORMOCER) (cross section: <= 50 mu m * 10 mu m) with refractive index step between core and cladding Delta n = 0.01 were produced. The index step was adjusted by mixing two diffrent ORMOCER systems. The materials show good adhesion to numerous substrates, such as glass and silicon. Application concepts such as flexible manufacturing of optoelectrical hybrid backplanes with two-dimensional interconnect, a three-dimensional optical interconnect with optical vias, and a hybrid backplane with the optical interconnect in a strip-format on a separate plane right above the electrical plane are proposed. Promising new technologies are presented along with preliminary demonstrativ viability.