Manufacturing microcomponents for optical information technology using the LIGA technique

Recently, splices and connectors for fiber ribbons, optical cross connects and especially planar waveguide devices have been fabricated via LIGA in combination with precision engineering techniques. LIGA combines high precision and mass production capability, necessary for products designed for applications in the telecom and datacom market. Ln this presentation the fabrication of three-level moulding and embossing tools is presented, which have been used for the manufacturing of waveguide prestructures consisting of waveguide channels and fiber-to-waveguide coupling grooves. The precision of the tools is better than 1 mu m in all directions, which allows for simple passive pigtailing. A first product, a sixfold array of 4 x 4 multimode star couplers has been realized. The moulding behaviour of PMMA and COC material has been tested and compared. Production and assembly was tested by fabricating a series of 300 star couplers. The average insertion loss has been found better than 9dB, the uniformity better than 3dB, both measured at 830nm. The device is designed for application in optical backplanes for high-speed computers.