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3D sol–gel printing and sol–gel bonding for fabrication of macro- and micro/nano-structured photonic devices

  • Review Paper: Sol–gel and hybrid materials for optical, photonic and optoelectronic applications
  • Published:
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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).

Highlights

  • Hybrid glassy materials with long shelf life were developed using the fast sol–gel process.

  • The process is a tool kit for fabrication of thermal/UV-curable resists with tailored properties.

  • Demonstration of optical bonding of components for solar energy and optical fiber coupler systems.

  • Demonstration of macroscale optical elements by 3D printing with inkjet and DLP printing.

  • Demonstration of microscale optical elements by 3D printing with NIL and DLW printing.

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Acknowledgements

We would like acknowledge Dr Thomas Cooper, Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL), Wright-Patterson Air Force Base OH, for supplying us the 2PA platinum complex (E1-BTAF-OH) chromophore. The work presented was partly funded by AFOSR/EOARD project grant number: FA955o-16-i-0201.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Photonic Materials Group, Applied Physics Division, Soreq NRC, 81800, Yavne, Israel

    Raz Gvishi

  2. Casali Center of Applied Chemistry, Institute of Chemistry, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, 91904, Jerusalem, Israel

    Ilan Sokolov

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  1. Raz Gvishi
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Correspondence to Raz Gvishi.

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Ethical statement

The manuscript is based on an invited contribution presented at the 2019 XX Sol–Gel Meeting St Petersburg and is submitted to the special issue dedicated to the 2019 XX Sol–Gel Meeting St Petersburg INVITED Contributions. Therefore, the manuscript summarizes our work on the fabrication of photonic devices by bonding or 3D-printing methods, based on UV-curable sol–gel hybrids we have developed, and includes some work that already was published. Proper acknowledgements are given by citation in the text both to other works, and to our previous publications. The data presented in the figures are original and to our knowledge do not include any material that is copyrighted.

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Gvishi, R., Sokolov, I. 3D sol–gel printing and sol–gel bonding for fabrication of macro- and micro/nano-structured photonic devices. J Sol-Gel Sci Technol 95, 635–648 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10971-020-05270-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10971-020-05270-7

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