Abstract

Aromatic polyimides are of interest for integrated optics due to a combination of high thermal stability and easy processibility into planar structures. Polyimides can withstand chip attach and package assembly temperatures and are resistant to corrosive etchants and cleaning solvents making them compatible with a variety of substrates and metallization schemes. Waveguides from polyimide can be patterned by photobleaching¹ or etching² using standard semiconductor or printed circuit board technology and equipment. Polyimide properties are easily engineered by co-polymerization with co-diamines or dianhydrides to tailor the refractive indices or incorporate photosensitivity. Electro-optic polyimides have been demonstrated that incorporate non-linear optical chromophores by guest-host doping.³

© 1993 Optical Society of America