Improving partial wetting resolution on flexible substrates for application of polymer optical waveguides
Optical Engineering
10
56
103109
2017
Type: Zeitschriftenaufsatz (reviewed)
Abstract
Considering the increasing amount of data for communication and infotainment applications, fabrication of optical networks and bus systems is a challenging task for production engineering. A two-step manufacturing process for polymer optical waveguides is presented. By improving the highly efficient flexographic printing technology by laser functionalization of the printing tool in combination with a subsequent spray application, high-quality waveguides are accomplished. By adjusting the resulting surface energy of the foil substrate in the first fabrication process, the spray application achieved high-aspect ratio waveguides with a low attenuation of 0.2 dB/cm at 850 nm.