(초청강연논문) Hard and Flexible Optical Printed Circuit Board (O-PCB) Using Micro/Nano-Imprinting of Polymer Optical Waveguides

초록

We present in the form of a review and overview the results of our original research on the design and fabrication of a micro/anao-scale optical system that we call optical printed circuit board (O-PCB), which is composed of micro/nano-scale polymer waveguide circuits fabricated by thermal or ultraviolet (UV) imprinting technique. The O-PCBs are made in hard and flexible forms of generic and application-specific nature. Micro/nano-photonic devices, like micro-lasers, sensors, couplers, splitters, filters, micro-ring/racetrack resonator devices, photonic crystal devices, plasmonic devices, and quantum dots, are interconnected and integrated via imprinted polymer wires to perform the functions of sensing, storing, processing, transporting, switching, routing and distributing optical signals. Photonic crystals and plasmonic structures are also used for VLSI micro/nano-photonic integrated circuits on the O-PCBs. We have achieved performance characteristics of up to 2.5 Gbps and 10 Gbps per each imprinted polymer waveguide channel. A 100-channel O-PCB, for example, can potentially process data in the Tera-bps range. We describe in detail the imprinting and fabrication and formation of micro/nano-polymer waveguides and circuits of diverse materials for low-cost/high-volume processing. We also discuss the scientific and technological issues regarding the design and fabrication of O-PCBs by interconnecting and integrating micro/nano-photonic devices of diverse nature by using imprinted polymer waveguides. We will discuss the issues regarding the compatibility, such as modes, thermal/mechanical stability, and alignment, between the polymer wires and the devices, and will present solutions for some of the examples. We will discuss on the use of O-PCBs as platform for VLSI micro/nano-photonic circuits and networks.