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 μm and height ~1.8 to 2.2 μm 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.