Polymer optical waveguides fabricated using the Mosquito method are expected to realize high bandwidth density 3-dimensional (3-D) on-board wiring. In the Mosquito method, the waveguides are fabricated by dispensing a liquid core monomer into a liquid cladding monomer using a microdispenser. Hence, for the on-board applications particularly 3-D wiring, the core position and alignment accuracies are important to couple the waveguides with the other optical components with high efficiency. We already succeeded in fabricating graded-index core multimode polymer optical waveguides with low propagation loss using the Mosquito method. However, the positions of the formed cores tended to deviate from the original design, since both the core and cladding monomers are in the liquid state during the Mosquito process.
In this paper, we apply a fluid analysis simulation using a COMSOL Multiphysics® in order to theoretically simulate the influence of several fabrication parameters on the core position. The calculated core height deviation from the designed height is dependent on the needle-tip height, because the core positions are influenced by the pressure distribution of cladding monomer caused by the monomer flow. Meanwhile, we find that the monomer wetting on the needle outer wall also affects the core height. When the effect of monomer wetting is taken into account, the simulated core heights are different from the results without the effect of monomer wetting and we can theoretically predict the height of the formed core. Finally, we confirm that the core height can be controlled by adjusting the needle-tip height setting in which the effect of the monomer flow and wetting theoretically calculated is taken into account in the Mosquito method.
Polymer optical waveguides with graded-index (GI) circular cores are fabricated using the Mosquito method, in which the positions of parallel cores are accurately controlled. Such an accurate arrangement is of great importance for a high optical coupling efficiency with other optical components such as fiber ribbons. In the Mosquito method that we developed, a core monomer with a viscous liquid state is dispensed into another liquid state monomer for cladding via a syringe needle. Hence, the core positions are likely to shift during or after the dispensing process due to several factors. We investigate the factors, specifically affecting the core height. When the core and cladding monomers are selected appropriately, the effect of the gravity could be negligible, so the core height is maintained uniform, resulting in accurate core heights. The height variance is controlled in ±2 micrometers for the 12 cores. Meanwhile, larger shift in the core height is observed when the needle-tip position is apart from the substrate surface. One of the possible reasons of the needle-tip height dependence is the asymmetric volume contraction during the monomer curing. We find a linear relationship between the original needle-tip height and the core-height observed. This relationship is implemented in the needle-scan program to stabilize the core height in different layers. Finally, the core heights are accurately controlled even if the cores are aligned on various heights. These results indicate that the Mosquito method enables to fabricate waveguides in which the cores are 3-dimensionally aligned with a high position accuracy.
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