Fabrication of Thin-film Polymer Optical Waveguides for Flexible Transparent Dot-Matrix Displays

As augmented reality and spacial computing become realized, innovations in display technologies are necessary. The display technology in current augmented reality systems remains bulky and heavy. This project aims to develop a new type of transparent display technology that is thin, light, and flexible. A prototype thin-film polymer optical waveguide display is fabricated using photolithography. This display technology utilizes optical waveguides to route signal to scatter patterns arranged in a grid of pixels. The materials used are SU-8 photoresist and NOA 61 optical adhesive for the core and cladding respectively. PVA is also used as a sacrificial layer to lift off the samples from the quartz substrate. The width and spacing of the waveguides are modulated to explore their effects on optical performance in the form of propagation loss, calculated using the cut-back method. The refractive index is measured using ellipsometry, and morphology is analyzed using SEM and AFM imaging.