Optical loss characterization of polymer waveguides on halogen and halogen-free FR-4 substrates

Document Type

Conference Proceeding

Publication Date

4-11-2011

Abstract

In order to characterize and optimize the overall link budget for an optical communication channel, the absorption loss of the waveguides must be well known, stable, and minimized. Research and characterization has been performed to ascertain the impact of the use of halogen vs. halogen free FR-4 circuit boards. Halogen is utilized within glass resin epoxy circuit boards as a flame retardant. An analysis of rectangular multi-mode polymer waveguide structures, with a fixed core dimension of 50 μm ×0 50 μm, was done to characterize the effects of the halogen FR-4 on the absorption loss. Thermal cycling times were varied in order to determine the relationship between heating of the polymer material, halogen diffusion into the optical cladding and core layer, and optical losses.

Publication Title

Proceedings of SPIE - The International Society for Optical Engineering

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