Reliability Analysis of an Inorganic-Organic Hybrid Sol-gel Material System for Waveguiding Applications

Abstract

ABSTRACTA novel epoxy-functionalised sol-gel material system for use in photonic waveguiding applications has been developed for use in short-range optical interconnect applications. The sol-gel material is deposited by spin coating to form a thin-film up to 25μm in thickness. The resulting film is selectively cross-linked using photo-lithography, as part of a UV-thermal curing process. A tunable film refractive index over the range 1.48–1.515 is demonstrated. The near-field images of transmitted radiation (633nm) from fabricated waveguide structures shows both waveguiding and efficient light confinement within the UV-thermally produced core regions. A thermal stability analysis of the waveguides following “Telcordia” environmental testing protocols for passive devices is presented. It is concluded that this materials system has the potential for use in waveguiding applications in environments where enhanced thermo-mechanical stability is required.