The field of integrated photonics has advanced rapidly due to wafer-scale fabrication, with integrated-photonics platforms and fabrication processes being demonstrated at both infrared and visible wavelengths. However, these demonstrations have primarily focused on fabrication processes on silicon substrates that result in rigid photonic wafers and chips, which limit the potential application spaces. There are many application areas that would benefit from mechanically-flexible integrated-photonics wafers, such as wearable healthcare monitors and pliable displays. Although there have been demonstrations of mechanically-flexible photonics fabrication, they have been limited to fabrication processes on the individual device or chip scale, which limits scalability. In this paper, we propose, develop, and experimentally characterize the first 300-mm wafer-scale platform and fabrication process that results in mechanically-flexible photonic wafers and chips. First, we develop and describe the 300-mm wafer-scale CMOS-compatible flexible platform and fabrication process. Next, we experimentally demonstrate key optical functionality at visible wavelengths, including chip coupling, waveguide routing, and passive devices. Then, we perform a bend-durability study to characterize the mechanical flexibility of the photonic chips, demonstrating bending a single chip 2000 times down to a bend diameter of 0.5 inch with no degradation in the optical performance. Finally, we experimentally characterize polarization-rotation effects induced by bending the flexible photonic chips. This work will enable the field of integrated photonics to advance into new application areas that require flexible photonic chips.

由于晶圆级制造，集成光子学领域迅速发展，集成光子学平台和制造工艺在红外和可见波长下得到了演示。然而，这些演示主要集中在硅基板上的制造工艺，这些工艺会产生刚性光子晶圆和芯片，这限制了潜在的应用空间。许多应用领域都将受益于机械柔性集成光子晶圆，例如可穿戴医疗监视器和柔性显示器。尽管已经有机械柔性光子制造的演示，但它们仅限于单个器件或芯片规模的制造工艺，这限制了可扩展性。在本文中，我们提出、开发并通过实验表征了第一个 300 毫米晶圆级平台和制造工艺，从而产生了机械柔性光子晶圆和芯片。首先，我们开发并描述了 300 毫米晶圆级 CMOS 兼容的灵活平台和制造工艺。接下来，我们通过实验演示可见波长下的关键光学功能，包括芯片耦合、波导路由和无源器件。然后，我们进行了弯曲耐久性研究，以表征光子芯片的机械灵活性，证明将单个芯片弯曲 2000 次至弯曲直径为 0.5 英寸，光学性能没有下降。最后，我们通过实验表征了弯曲柔性光子芯片引起的偏振旋转效应。这项工作将使集成光子学领域进入需要柔性光子芯片的新应用领域。