AVS 52nd International Symposium
    Manufacturing Science and Technology Tuesday Sessions
       Session MS-TuP

Paper MS-TuP7
Fabrication of High Precision Demultiplexer using Embossing Technique with Thermal Curable Polymers

Tuesday, November 1, 2005, 4:00 pm, Room Exhibit Hall C&D

Session: Topics in Advanced Manufacturing Poster Session
Presenter: C.H. Choi, Inha University, Korea
Authors: C.H. Choi, Inha University, Korea
M.W. Lee, Inha University, Korea
B.H. O, Inha University, Korea
S.G. Lee, Inha University, Korea
S.G. Park, Inha University, Korea
E.H. Lee, Inha University, Korea
Correspondent: Click to Email
Photonic devices have been fabricated mainly by using the conventional lithography and etch processes. However, the costs of the conventional fabrication were remained expensive, and obviously cannot meet the trend towards fiber-to-the-home (FTTH), which required lower price of the photonic components. Embossing technologies reduce the cost for the fabrication of photonic devices. In this paper, we fabricated a 1310 nm/1550 nm demultiplexer using an embossing technique with the PDMS mold. Resists used as the core and the cladding layers are ZP 51 and ZP 49, respectively, which are the thermal curable polymers. The fabrication process is summarized as: 1) manufacturing the photoresist master by lithography process, 2) forming the PDMS mold from the master, and 3) replicating the device using the mold. For the fabrication of the device, ZP 49 was spin coated onto a glass substrate, and was cured by heating. ZP 51 was applied to the patterned surface of the PDMS mold. This mold filled with the ZP 51 was then placed in contact with the surface of the prepared substrate coated the ZP 49, and the ZP 51 was cured to solid by heating it. After curing, the mold was peeled away carefully, and the upper cladding (ZP 49) was spin coated over the patterned structure. The fabrication of the demultiplexer was completed by curing. Some manufacturing issues, such as the variation of dimension of the replica, the durability of the mold, and optical properties of the device, will be discussed. The embossing technique is applied for low-cost manufacturing photonic devices.