ALL-IN-ONE POLYMERIC SYSTEM OPTICAL WAVEGUIDE STRUCTURE AND METHOD OF MANUFACTURING THE SAME

摘要

A technique is described that provides an optical waveguide composed of all-in-one polymeric system and method for fabricating the same. The optical waveguide includes: a bottom buffer layer(2) formed on a silicon substrate(1) and composed of the same material as a light-bleached guiding layer(5); a cladding region(3) formed on the bottom buffer layer(2) and bleached by light; and a light-bleached upper buffer layer(4). The method includes the steps of: (a) forming a nonlinear polymeric thin film(4); (b) bleaching the nonlinear polymeric thin film(4) using UV; (c) forming the bottom buffer layer(2) by dropping polymeric material; (d) forming the cladding region(3) having a unbleached channel guiding path(5); (e) performing a annealing process and then forming a nonlinear polymeric thin film (4); and (f) bleaching the nonlinear polymeric thin film(4) prior to an annealing process. Thereby, it is possible to easily form a single waveguide, and obtain buffer layers by bleaching the guiding layer material and thus reduce production cost.