Ultraviolet imprinting and aligned ink-jet printing for multilayer patterning of electro-optic polymer modulators

The present work demonstrates an electro-optic polymer-based Mach–Zehnder (MZ) modulator fabricated utilizing advanced ultraviolet (UV) imprinting and aligned ink-jet printing technologies for patterning and layer deposition. The bottom electrode layer is designed and directly ink-jet printed on the substrate to form the patterned layer. The waveguide structure is formed into a bottom cladding polymer using a transparent flexible mold-based UV imprinting method. All other layers can be ink-jet printed. The top electrode is aligned and printed over the MZ arm. The modulator demonstrates a $V$-pi of 8 V at 3 kHz. This technology shows great potential in minimizing the fabrication complexity and roll-to-roll compatibility for manufacturing low cost, lightweight, and conformal modulators at high throughput.