TY - JOUR

T1 - Ink-jet printed optical waveguides

AU - Bollgruen, P.

AU - Wolfer, Tim

AU - Gleissner, U.

AU - Mager, D.

AU - Megnin, C.

AU - Overmeyer, Ludger

AU - Hanemann, T.

AU - Korvink, J. G.

N1 - Funding information: This study has been carried out within the framework of the Collaborative Research Center ‘Transregio 123 —Planar Optronic System’ (PlanOS) funded by the German Research Foundation (Deutsche Forschungs-gemeinschaft, DFG), which we hereby acknowledge. JGK is additionally supported by the Karlsruhe School of Optics and Photonics (KSOP).

PY - 2017/10/26

Y1 - 2017/10/26

N2 - Optical waveguides were fabricated on flexible foil substrates by ink-jet printing, to complement and enhance printed flexible electronics with optical networks. The 145 μmwide and 20 μmhigh transparent polymer tracks were created by printing subsequent tracks of an acrylate ink on polymer foil. Aprintable, optically transparent material was prepared by a combination of an acrylate resin with a low-viscosity, co-polymerising acrylate. This solved the problem of solvent evaporation for substrates with low heat tolerance. Thermally induced pinning, used to prevent the ink from spreading out on the substrate was achieved by heating the substrate to 60 °C, and found to be strongly affected by the time lapse between deposition of the individual layers. This tool allowed to increase the aspect ratio of the printed tracks from 0.07 to 0.17, and the contact angle of the printed tracks from 15° to 37°. After completion of the deposition step, the waveguides were polymerised underUVlight, and covered by a printed upper cladding layer. In the optical evaluation, transmission could be demonstrated with an attenuation in the range of 1.4 d B cm-1for a wavelength of 785 nm, with a significant portion of material attenuation.

AB - Optical waveguides were fabricated on flexible foil substrates by ink-jet printing, to complement and enhance printed flexible electronics with optical networks. The 145 μmwide and 20 μmhigh transparent polymer tracks were created by printing subsequent tracks of an acrylate ink on polymer foil. Aprintable, optically transparent material was prepared by a combination of an acrylate resin with a low-viscosity, co-polymerising acrylate. This solved the problem of solvent evaporation for substrates with low heat tolerance. Thermally induced pinning, used to prevent the ink from spreading out on the substrate was achieved by heating the substrate to 60 °C, and found to be strongly affected by the time lapse between deposition of the individual layers. This tool allowed to increase the aspect ratio of the printed tracks from 0.07 to 0.17, and the contact angle of the printed tracks from 15° to 37°. After completion of the deposition step, the waveguides were polymerised underUVlight, and covered by a printed upper cladding layer. In the optical evaluation, transmission could be demonstrated with an attenuation in the range of 1.4 d B cm-1for a wavelength of 785 nm, with a significant portion of material attenuation.

KW - Acrylate inks

KW - Ink-jet printing

KW - Optical waveguides

KW - Printed optics

KW - Printed polymers

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85040985763&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1088/2058-8585/aa8ed6

DO - 10.1088/2058-8585/aa8ed6

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:85040985763

VL - 2

JO - Flexible and Printed Electronics

JF - Flexible and Printed Electronics

IS - 4

M1 - 045003

ER -