Single-mode Optical Waveguides using Fluorinated Polyimides

Abstract

Polymer optical waveguides are attractive for economical and practical optoelectronic devices and interconnections in optical communication systems.1) High thermal stability should have the first priority in optical waveguides used for these purposes so as to provide compatibility with high-performance electronic device fabrication. Sullivan2) has reported thermally-stable ridge waveguides with a loss of 0.3 dB/cm at 0.83 μm fabricated with polyimide. We have synthesized new fluorinated polyimides with high optical transparency at the optical communication wavelengths of 1.3 and 1.5 μm.3) These polyimides are also being applied to low loss and multi-mode optical waveguides. However, single-mode optical waveguides are required for telecommunication systems to allow matching with single-mode optical fibers. This paper describes the first fabrication of single-mode optical waveguides using fluorinated polyimides and an evaluation of the waveguides.