45° polymer-based total internal reflection coupling mirrors for fully embedded intraboard guided wave optical interconnects -: art. no. 141110

An array of 50 mu mx50 mu m polymer waveguides with 45 degrees total internal reflection (TIR) wideband coupling mirrors were fabricated by soft molding to achieve fully embedded boardlevel optoelectronic interconnects. The 45 degrees TIR coupling mirrors were formed at the ends of the waveguides to provide surface normal light coupling between waveguides and optoelectronic devices. Three-dimensional optoelectronic interconnects were replicated in one-step transfer by the soft molding technique. The measured propagation loss of the multimode waveguide was 0.16 dB/cm at 850 nm wavelength. The coupling efficiency of the silver-coated 45 degrees micromirrors buried under the top cladding was 92% with low polarization sensitivity. (C) 2005 American Institute of Physics.