Integrated optical waveguides in polyimide for wafer scale integration

Optical interconnections promise several key advantages over their electrical counterparts such as large bandwidth and reduced propagation delay. The limitations of electrical interconnections become even more significant for wafer scale integration (WSI), and wafer scale hybrid packaging (WSHP) because of the length of wafer scale interconnections. The authors investigate the possibility of using optically transparent organic dielectrics such as certain polyimides as waveguide materials for integrated optical waveguides, and the use of a focused ion beam (FIB) for micromachining optical structures such as mirrors.>