Integrated waveguides for optical interconnects

Optical waveguides offer potential as interconnects for high speed communication. On silicon, the SOI wafer structure allows rib waveguides to be easily fabricated. Large area single mode waveguides have been wet etched and their losses measured. The large turning radius for these waveguides is an economic disadvantage. Compact turning mirrors using the wet etch crystal planes have been fabricated and losses measured. These enable reduced dimensions for devices such as Mach Zehnder interferometers which are a requirement for high speed modulators. Polymers are also a prime candidate for optical waveguides. Preliminary loss results have been obtained for multimode waveguides fabricated from photodefinable SU8.