The Research Of Fabrication Technology And Stabilization Based On Polymer Electro-optic Switch

As the widely application and development of Internet, and the demand of FTTx,traditional communication network is not able to satisfy the request of high-speedcommunication, but the optical communication network which have high-speed,broad bandwidth and anti-electromagnetism interference ability is able to satisfy therequest. As the quickly development of the optical communication network, thestandard of optical device is raised quickly, high-speed electro-optic switch based onpoled polymer material, which have broad bandwidth, ability to work at low voltageand high-speed, will become one of the main parts of optical communication network.In this thesis, we focus on the research of fabrication technology and stabilizationbased on polymer electro-optic switch; the basics and theories of this article includethe classification and application of polymer electro-optic switch, the application anddevelopment of polymer electro-optic switch and poled polymer material, the basictheory of electro-optic switch, the basics of polymer poling techic。The main researchof this article includes the following parts:1.In this thesis, we focus on one of the key processes of the fabricationtechnology of electro-optic switch: the ICP etching process. The optimized oxygenInductively Coupled Plasma etching conditions, including antenna power, bias power,chamber pressure, O2flow rate and etching time for the fabrication ofPoly（methyl-methacrylate-glycidly-methacrylate） channel waveguide with smoothvertical features, were systematically investigated. The etching rate, surface roughnessand vertical profile were characterized by atomic force microscopy and scanningelectron microscopy. The increment of etching rate with the antenna power, biaspower and O2flow rate was observed. Bias power was found to be the main factor forsurface roughness and sidewall roughness. The vertical profile was proved to beclosely related to antenna power, bias power and O2flow rate. Longer etching timewill result in larger surface roughness.2.DR1/SU-8material was researched, includeing the exposing and cross-linkingprocess of DR1/SU-8, the corrosion of DR1/SU-8core layer by upper cladding, the influence of waveguide by upper cladding, the influence of different poling system onpolymer surface photography, the influence of cladding layer on the poling ofDR1/SU-8NLO core layer, the influence of different poling parameters on thechromophore orientation. Through contrast experiment, we found that the using ofNOA73cladding and the optimized corona poling had the best results:1.high polingefficiency and stability;2.clear interface between cladding and core layer before andafter poling;3.the surface Rrms（root mean aquare roughness） after corona poling waslow which is good for fabrication of high quality microwave electrodes.3.Polydimethylsiloxane is a kind of silicone which has merits of cost effective,good dielectric properties, and lower optical transmission loss in infrared range. Sincethe Poly[（methyl methacrylate）-co-（Disperse Red1methacrylate）] was applied as theactive layer, in order to avoid the passive influence between the core and claddings,polydimethylsiloxane was chosen to be the cladding layer. In this paper, we designedand fabricated an inverted ridge polymer waveguide Mach-Zehnder electro-opticswitch. To solve the problem of deposition phenomena which arises when only usingSF₆in polydimethylsiloxane reactive ion etching, we proposed a method of utilizingthe mixture of SF₆and O2for polydimethylsiloxane reactive ion etching process, andfound that when the flux ratio of SF₆: O2is50sccm:10sccm, the groove had the bestshape. Through optical test, the fabricated inverted ridge Mach-Zehnder waveguidehad a good near-infrared light output. Co-planar waveguide electrodes based onAluminum material was designed and fabricated, and signal response of electro-opticswitch was observed.4.DR1/KH560（CH2CH（O）CH2O（CH2）3Si（OCH3）3） organic/inorganic hybridmaterial was synthesized autonomously, traditional TEOS（CH3CH2OSi（OCH2CH3）3）was replaced by KH560to be the source of the element of silicon in the TiO₂-SiO₂matrix, the group of R（CH₂CH₂CH₂CH₂OCH₂C₂H₃O） was introduced to the matrixby KH560which reduced the stress in the organic/inorganic film and solved theproblem of the cracking of organic/inorganic film during the cooling procedure ofcuring; the surface photography and Rrms, refractive index and electro-optic parameterwas characterized; P（MMA-GMA） material was used as cladding; inverted ridgepolymer waveguide electro-optic switch was fabricated and signal response ofelectro-optic switch was observed.