Thermally stable polymeric waveguide using UV-curable epoxy resins for optical printed-circuit board

Thermally stable and cost-effective polymeric optical waveguide has been fabricated using UV-curable epoxy resins. Reusable polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) masters which were prepared using hot-embossing imprinting technique were used as main masters for the fabrication of optical waveguide. Thermal and optical properties of the fabricated optical waveguide were investigated. After the thermal stability test at 200degC for 1 hour, the physical state of the waveguide was not changed and optical propagation loss measured by the cut-back method increased from 0.16 dB/cm to 0.26 dB/cm. This waveguide is estimated to be used for the embedding in optical printed-circuit board (OPCB).