New Inorganic-Organic Hybrid Polymers for Integrated Optics

New fluorinated inorganic-organic hybrid polymers (ORMOCER * s) for integrated optics were synthesized via hydrolysis and condensation (sol-gel processing) of functionalized pentafluorophenylalkoxysi lanes followed by organic crosslinking reactions. Process parameters (catalyst, temperature and ratio of educts) were optimized to achieve low transmission losses at the most important wavelengths for telecommunication in the NIR range: 1310 nm and 1550 nm. The result is a photopatternable transparent ORMOCER (negative resist behavior) with excellent low losses: 0.20 dB/cm at 1310 nm and 0.30 dB/cm at 1550 nm. Besides their high transparency the fluorinated ORMOCERs show a variety of other properties enabling their use as waveguide materials within the production of optoelectronic devices and related thin film technology: good wetting and adhesion on various substrates (e.g. glass, silicon and several polymers), low processing temperatures (postbake below 160 °C), high thermal stability (decomposition > 250°C) and a tunable refractive index.