Rotative printing processes for polymer waveguide manufacturing

A. Evertz; L. Fütterer; A.-L. Fritze; B. Reitz; L. Overmeyer

doi:10.1117/12.2678668

29 November 2023 Rotative printing processes for polymer waveguide manufacturing

A. Evertz, L. Fütterer, A.-L. Fritze, B. Reitz, L. Overmeyer

Proceedings Volume 12778, Optifab 2023; 1277805 (2023) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2678668
Event: SPIE Optifab, 2023, Rochester, New York, United States

Abstract

Rotative printing technologies are an approach to manufacturing polymer optical waveguides with high throughput for applications such as electro-optical circuit boards (EOCB) or smart packaging. Processes presumably originating in graphical applications apply defined amounts of polymer onto a polymer substrate. Unlike graphical printing, the use of these processes to manufacture functional waveguides underlies different requirements regarding material transfer, structure of the printed polymer, and multi-layer stacking of functional layers. This work applies the manufacturing processes gravure printing and flexographic printing to realize waveguide cores onto PMMA substrates. Therefore, a modular printing machine with high positional accuracy between multiple printed layers is used. The waveguides are further cladded with another PMMA substrate using thermal lamination. The processes are evaluated according to waveguide geometry and optical parameters. Material transfer per layer, resulting geometrical quality, and aspect ratio of the waveguides are compared regarding their manufacturing process. Functional tests are conducted as optical attenuation measurements to evaluate the waveguide's macro range performance. Using these results, the potentials of each process for an upcoming production of fully-printed cladded waveguides are determined and showcased.

Conference Presentation

(2023) Published by SPIE. Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.

Citation Download Citation

A. Evertz, L. Fütterer, A.-L. Fritze, B. Reitz, and L. Overmeyer "Rotative printing processes for polymer waveguide manufacturing", Proc. SPIE 12778, Optifab 2023, 1277805 (29 November 2023); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2678668

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