A NOVEL APPROACH TO THE FABRICATION OF POLYMER-BASED ELECTROOPTIC DEVICES AND SUBSYSTEMS-ON-A-CHIP

"The proposed research program seeks to develop a totally new methodology for the fabrication of polymer-based electrooptic waveguide devices and subsystems-on-a-chip. These devices are currently produced using conventional spin-coating or dip-coatingtechnology. However, these techniques constrain the selection of polymers for the electrooptic waveguide layer and for the upper and lower cladding layers because of the need to use solvent systems that will not disrupt the previously deposited layers.To avoid having to expose the polymer layers to potentially harmful solvents, we propose to adapt MicroCoating Technologies' (MCT's) patented NanomizerT spray deposition technology for the fabrication of optically clear polymer cladding films. The keyfeature of the proposed approach is MCT's unique nozzle design that disperses a liquid solution of the polymer (or reactive oligomers) into sub-micron droplets. This allows the solvent to flash-evaporate as the droplets travel toward the substrate, andresults in the deposition of a pinhole-free film with minimal solvent exposure to the substrate. In addition, it enables the fabrication of mode-matched waveguides having adiabatic tapers, with graduated thickness and refractive index profiles. To ensurethat we will be working with state-of-the-art materials, MCT has established a teaming relationship with the research group of Professor Larry Dalton, a world leader in electrooptic polymer de