Fabrication of polymer AWG demultiplexer using embossing technique

We fabricated an arrayed waveguide grating (AWG) demultiplexer for optical fiber communication systems and photonic integrated circuits. We also used an embossing technique to fabricated the AWG instead of traditional semiconductor technologies, such as photolithography and etch process. UV curable polymers (ZPU 12-47 and ZPU 1245) were used as the core and upper cladding layers. The polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) mold used for the embossing process is manufactured by a photoresist structure formed on a silicon wafer. We tried the embossing onto a fused silica glass using the PDMS mold. After UV curing, the PDMS mold was peeled away carefully, and a pattern of the AWG demultiplexer was left on the surface of that substrate. The upper cladding layer was coated over the patterned structure. The fabrication of the AWG demultiplexer was completed by a cleaving process. The residual layer produced after an embossing process was adjusted by the volume of polymer droplet. The embossing technique will have the potential for broad applications in fabrication of photonic devices.