New Horizontal Frustum Optical Waveguide Fabrication Using UV Proximity Printing

TL;DR

This paper introduces a new UV proximity printing method to fabricate horizontal frustum optical waveguides with precise geometric control, demonstrating low optical loss and potential for fiber coupling in optical communication systems.

Contribution

A novel fabrication technique using diffraction-based lithography to produce horizontal frustum waveguides with controlled profiles and low optical loss.

Findings

Optical loss less than 0.2dB for the waveguides

Mode profile matches fiber and laser diode

Successful fabrication of waveguide arrays with consistent inclined angles

Abstract

This paper presents a novel method to fabricate the horizontal frustum structure as a planar optical waveguide by using the proximity printing technique. A horizontal frustum optical waveguide with a both lateral and vertical taper structure was produced. The orthogonal and inclined masks with the diffraction effect were employed in lithography process. This method can precisely control each horizontal frustum optical waveguide geometric profile in the fabrication process. The horizontal frustum optical waveguide and its array with the same inclined angle were generated. The beam propagation simulation software (BPM_CAD) was used to modeling the optical performance. The simulation results reveal that the mode profile matched into horizontal frustum optical waveguide and fiber from the laser diode. The optical loss of horizontal hemi-frustum structure of optical waveguides was less than 0.2dB. The horizontal hemifrustum waveguide will be used for fiber coupling on boards for further optical communication systems.