Research and fabrication of a UV curable polymeric 41 × 41 array‐waveguide grating multiplexer

Abstract

Abstract In this article, a polymeric 41‐channel array‐waveguide grating (AWG) multiplexer was fabricated by simple direct Ultraviolet photolithography process. We try to use a cross‐linkable negative photoresist as core material and an optically clear UV curable epoxy as cladding material. Once exposed to Ultraviolet light through a photomask, the polymeric waveguide stripes were obtained upon development. Because of the superiority of UV resist in microelectro mechanical systems, the characteristic of the optical waveguide is better than that fabricated by steam‐redissolution technique of polymeric waveguide. The propagation loss is low as 2.03 dB/cm at 1550‐nm wavelength. The AWG multiplexer has channel spacing of 0.789 nm and the center wavelength is close to 1550 nm. The new technique will be well suited for fabricating optical integrated circuits. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Microwave Opt Technol Lett 49: 3040–3044, 2007; Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com). DOI 10.1002/mop.22965