Abstract

Photonic integrated circuits (PIC) can be mass-produced by 3D-printing technologies in combination with advanced hybrid inorganic–organic materials. In this work we present the development of hybrid inorganic–organic materials based on the fast sol–gel process (FSG) which can be used as a “tool kit” for the fabrication of advanced optical materials. We present routes to fabrication of FSG materials with a variety of properties: the materials may exhibit mechanical toughness or be elastic; they may be thermally and UV-curable, they can have a tailored refractive index value and tailored chemical environment, such as an aromatic matrix. Using these materials, we demonstrated strong optical bonding between optical components for solar energy and optical fiber coupler systems. We demonstrated fabrication of macroscale optical elements by 3D-printing methods, such as soft lithography, inkjet, and digital light processing (DLP) printing. We also demonstrated 3D-printing fabrication of nano/microscale optical elements by soft lithography, nanoimprint lithography (NIL), and direct laser writing (DLW). The obtained 3D-printed sol–gel optical elements were found to exhibit mechanical advantages: improved surface quality, resistance to solvents, improved adhesion to glass substrate and stability to temperature above 200 °C compared with 3D-printed organic polymer elements. In addition, the sol–gel elements present the following optical advantages: improved optical quality, improved optical transmission, and durability to laser radiation. We believe that this class of materials is a promising candidate for use in mass production of photonic integrated circuits (PIC) by 3D-printing technologies.

UV-curable fast sol–gel (FSG) bonding and 3D printing (a) Bonding of a BK7 glass prism to a silicon-based wafer by UV curing of FSG material, where the FSG is applied in the interface between them. (b) Macroscale “cubic” shaped optical element printed by 3D Digital light processing (DLP).

中文翻译：

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3D溶胶-凝胶印刷和溶胶-凝胶键合，用于制造宏观和微观/纳米结构的光子器件

摘要

光子集成电路（PIC）可以通过3D打印技术与先进的无机-无机混合材料相结合而大量生产。在这项工作中，我们介绍了基于快速溶胶-凝胶工艺（FSG）的无机-有机杂化材料的开发，该材料可用作制造高级光学材料的“工具包”。我们提出了具有各种特性的FSG材料的制造途径：这些材料可能会表现出机械韧性或具有弹性；它们可以是热的和紫外线可固化的，它们可以具有定制的折射率值和定制的化学环境，例如芳族基质。使用这些材料，我们证明了太阳能光学组件和光纤耦合器系统之间的牢固光学结合。我们演示了通过3D打印方法（例如软光刻，喷墨和数字光处理（DLP）打印）制造的宏观光学元件。我们还演示了通过软光刻，纳米压印光刻（NIL）和直接激光写入（DLW）进行的纳米/微米级光学元件的3D打印制造。与3D打印的有机聚合物元件相比，发现获得的3D打印的溶胶-凝胶光学元件具有机械优势：改善的表面质量，耐溶剂性，改善的对玻璃基板的附着力以及对200°C以上的温度的稳定性。此外，溶胶-凝胶元素还具有以下光学优势：光学质量提高，光学透射率提高以及对激光辐射的耐久性。