Microprinting process development enabling cost effective, high density and flexible electro-optical integration

To overcome the interconnect bottlenecks of chip-to-chip (C2C) data communication, we aim for an electro-optical integration approach combining electrical and optical interconnects for contacting and routing signals in electronic systems. This paper describes the development of additive microprinting manufacturing processes for the fabrication of optical routing and coupling using the multi-lithography approach with UV-lithography, two-photon direct laser writing (2PP-DLW) and UV nano-imprinting (UV-NIL). Multimode and single-mode application scenarios for micro-structuring of ORMOCER® hybrid polymers and 2PP printing resins are discussed: the multichannel and multimode flexible optical links for 5G/6G base stations servers and the E/O-hybrid interposer for SiN-based photonic enabled trusted electronics with single-mode planar BEOL optics. The advances in 2PP-DLW and UV-NIL processes are described and the influence of processing parameters on the quality of manufactured optics is evaluated in the paper.