Inorganic-organic hybrid materials for application in optical devices

Integrated passive and active optical devices are the key components in current and future data transfer technologies. In order to fulfill future requirements in miniaturization for diffractive, refractive and integrated optical devices, new materials with higher thermal stability and a better compatibility to processing techniques used in conventional semiconductor devices production are needed. Inorganic-organic hybrid polymers (ORMOCER((R))s) produced at fairly low costs with a high degree of reproducibility are now proven candidates. The materials can be functionalized such that their physical and chemical properties can be tailored towards, e.g. optical applications on wafer-scale such as waveguides, gratings or microoptical devices. The materials behave as a negative resist and can thus be patterned by UV exposure with good resolution. Besides, the materials are very well suited for thin and thick film packaging technology. We here particularly focus on materials for optical (telecom/microoptics) applications. The optical behavior is characterized and discussed with respect to the chemical functionalities. Additionally, some application examples of selected optical components are given, produced either by UV lithography or by replication technology. (C) 2003 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.