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Passive Polymeric Waveguide Materials for Optical Interconnects

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 February 2011

Lynn D. Hutcheson,
John P. Arrington and
Stephen F. Powell
Lynn D. Hutcheson
Affiliation:
Raynet Corporation, 155 Constitution Drive, Menlo Park, CA 94025
John P. Arrington
Affiliation:
Raychem Corporation, 300 Constitution Drive, Menlo Park, CA 94025
Stephen F. Powell
Affiliation:
Raychem Corporation, 300 Constitution Drive, Menlo Park, CA 94025
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Abstract

The need for higher bandwidth interconnect schemes to relieve the communications bottleneck caused by the ever increasing speeds of discreet electronic devices has led to a renewed interest in thin film optical waveguides as interconnect media. This paper reviews some of the polymeric materials that have been investigated for use as thin film passive optical waveguides over the past ten years. Several proposed applications for these waveguides are presented and the specific material requirements of these applications are discussed. The strengths and weaknesses of specific polymeric materials are considered in view of these requirements. While reference is made to a variety of polymers that have been considered for these applications, emphasis is placed on the relative merits of polyimide and acrylate polymer based systems.

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Type
Research Article
Information
MRS Online Proceedings Library (OPL) , Volume 264: Symposium G – Electronic Packaging Materials Science VI , 1992, 331
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 1992

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