Fabrication of AWG demultiplexer using silicon mold

초록

We report on the fabrication of an arrayed waveguide grating (AWG) demultiplexer of 5 channels based on the embossing process using silicon mold. The 4-inch silicon mold was fabricated by the photo-lithography and the etch process. UV curable polymer was used to fabricate the AWG. The width and the height of waveguide are 3 and 2.5 m, respectively. The mold was fabricated by a dry etch process. The etched Si mold was treated the surface with plasma polymerized fluorocarbon film. The surface condition of silicon by that process is changed from hydrophilic to hydrophobic, therefore, the silicon mold can be easy release from the replica after the embossing process. In our embossing process, the commercial equipment (NIL 6”, Obducat) was used. In embossing process, the embossing pressure and the volume of polymer are controlled, respectively. After the embossing process, the upper cladding polymer is coated onto the AWG replica by spin coating method. More detailed characteristics will be discussed in the presentation.