Designed and fabrication of ENR polymer rib optical waveguides

We report about design, fabrication and properties of the Epoxy Novolak Resin (ENR) polymer rib optical waveguides. Polymer waveguides were fabricated on silicon substrate with silica buffer layer and Epoxy novolak resin was used as the waveguide core material. Polymethylmethacrylate was used as a cover protection layer. The optical waveguides were designed by using software RSOFT using Beam propagation method and the minimum (critical) waveguiding thicknesses of the deposited layers were calculated using dispersion equation. Polymer layers were fabricated by spin coating and optical waveguides were form by using standard photolithography process. Propagation optical loss measurements were carried at 650 nm and 1310 nm using the cut-back method and the best samples had optical losses lower than 1.0 dB/cm at 650 nm and 0.6 dB/cm at 1310 nm