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Aerosol Jet Printing of Polymer Optical Waveguides

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Optical Polymer Waveguides

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Abstract

This research presents an advanced fabrication process of aerosol jet printed polymer optical waveguides onto 2D and 3D surfaces. The key advantage of the aerosol printed polymer optical waveguides is the capability of the process to print directly on desired surfaces, which significantly reduced the cost for new/customization production. Comprehensive studies of the optical material selection, printing strategies, printing process optimization and quality characterization of the printed polymer optical waveguide are successfully conducted. With the optimum printing process, the desired aspect ratio of the polymer optical waveguides is obtained at the height to width ratio of ~ 1:5 and contact angle of ~ 45° to 60°. Optical analysis of the printed polymer optical waveguide samples record attenuation rates up to 0.2 dB/cm and transmission rates of 10 Gbit/s. These significant achievements are likely to become a game-changer to the existing metallic conductor.

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Acknowledgement

This research work is funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG) of the research group “Optical integrated circuit packaging for module-integrated bus systems (OPTAVER)” (FOR 1660).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute for Factory Automation and Production Systems, Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, Erlangen, Germany

    Mohd-Khairulamzari Hamjah, Thomas Reitberger & Jörg Franke

  2. Institut für Aufbau- und Verbindungstechnik der Elektronik, Technische Universität Dresden, Dresden, Germany

    Lukas Lorenz

Authors
  1. Mohd-Khairulamzari Hamjah
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  2. Thomas Reitberger
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  3. Lukas Lorenz
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  4. Jörg Franke
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Mohd-Khairulamzari Hamjah .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Lehrstuhl für Fertigungsautomatisierung und Produktionssystematik, Friedrich-Alexander Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, Erlangen, Germany

    Jörg Franke

  2. Institut für Transport- und Automatisierungstechnik, Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Universität Hannover, Garbsen, Germany

    Ludger Overmeyer

  3. Institut für Optik, Information und Photonik, Friedrich-Alexander Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, Erlangen, Germany

    Norbert Lindlein

  4. Institut für Aufbau- und Verbindungstechnik der Elektronik, Technische Universität Dresden, Dresden, Germany

    Karlheinz Bock

  5. Laser Zentrum Hannover e.V., Hannover, Germany

    Stefan Kaierle

  6. Laser Zentrum Hannover e.V., Coherent LaserSystems GmbH & Co. KG, Hannover, Germany

    Oliver Suttmann

  7. Institut für Aufbau- und Verbindungstechnik der Elektronik, Technische Universität Dresden, Dresden, Germany

    Klaus-Jürgen Wolter

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Hamjah, MK., Reitberger, T., Lorenz, L., Franke, J. (2022). Aerosol Jet Printing of Polymer Optical Waveguides. In: Franke, J., et al. Optical Polymer Waveguides. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-92854-4_5

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