Circuit assembly and method for producing a circuit assembly

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10436980-B2
Application number	US-201716079206-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Feb 21, 2017
Priority date	Feb 23, 2016
Publication date	Oct 8, 2019
Grant date	Oct 8, 2019

Abstract

It is provided a circuit assembly, comprising at least one electronic circuit; at least one optical waveguide, wherein the core and the cladding of the optical waveguide are formed of an amorphous material; at least one carrier on which the optical waveguide is arranged; and at least one electro-optically active material layer electrically connected to the electronic circuit. The at least one electro-optically active material layer at least partially extends in the optical waveguide and the electrical connection between the electronic circuit and the at least one electro-optically active material layer is produced in that at least one electrical contact extends from the electronic circuit through at least one section of the cladding of the optical waveguide to the at least one electro-optically active material layer or is connected to a section of the electro-optically active material layer, which protrudes from the cladding of the optical waveguide.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A circuit assembly, comprising
at least one electronic circuit;
at least one optical waveguide, wherein the core and the cladding of the optical waveguide are formed of an amorphous material;
at least one carrier on which the optical waveguide is arranged; and
at least one electro-optically active material layer electrically connected to the electronic circuit, wherein:
the at least one electro-optically active material layer at least partially extends in the optical waveguide and the electrical connection between the electronic circuit and the at least one electro-optically active material layer is produced in that at least one electrical contact extends from the electronic circuit through at least one section of the cladding of the optical waveguide to the at least one electro-optically active material layer or is connected to a section of the electro-optically active material layer, which protrudes from the cladding of the optical waveguide,
the electronic circuit is arranged indirectly or directly at the carrier, and
the at least one electro-optically active material layer at least partially extends in the core, adjoins the core of the optical waveguide from above or adjoins the core of the optical waveguide from below.

2. The circuit assembly according to claim 1 , wherein the circuit assembly is a circuit board or a microchip.

3. The circuit assembly according to claim 1 , wherein at least one of:
the at least one electro-optically active material layer is configured to convert an electrical signal received from the electronic circuit via the electrical contact into an optical signal propagating in the optical waveguide and/or to convert an optical signal propagating in the optical waveguide into an electrical signal to be passed to the electronic circuit via the electrical contact, and
the at least one electro-optically active material layer at least partially extends in the core, adjoins the core of the optical waveguide from above or adjoins the core of the optical waveguide from below.

4. The circuit assembly according to claim 1 , wherein at least one of the cladding and the core of the waveguide are formed of an electrically insulating material.

5. The circuit assembly according to claim 1 , wherein at least one of:
the optical waveguide is at least partially formed of a material which was produced on the carrier from the liquid phase or the gas phase, and
the optical waveguide is at least partially formed of a polymer material, silicon dioxide and/or silicon nitride.

6. The circuit assembly according to claim 1 , wherein the electronic circuit and the optical waveguide are arranged on different sides of the carrier.

7. The circuit assembly according to claim 6 , wherein the electrical contact extends through a through-opening in the carrier.

8. The circuit assembly according to claim 1 , wherein the optical waveguide extends between:
two carriers or
the electronic circuit and the carrier.

9. The circuit assembly according to claim 1 , wherein at least one of:
the at least one electro-optically active material layer is formed of another material than the waveguide, and
the at least one electro-optically active material layer is formed of a crystalline material.

10. The circuit assembly according to claim 1 , wherein the at least one electro-optically active material layer includes a two-dimensional material or a semiconductor material or is formed of such a material.

11. The circuit assembly according to claim 10 , wherein the two-dimensional material is formed of graphene, triazine-based graphitic carbon nitride, germanene, molybdenum disulfide, molybdenum diselenide, silicene and/or black phosphorus or includes at least one of these materials.

12. The circuit assembly according to claim 10 , wherein the semiconductor material is a III-V semiconductor material.

13. The circuit assembly according to claim 12 , wherein a plurality of electro-optically active material layers are present, which differ in their band gap and/or their doping.

14. The circuit assembly according to claim 1 , wherein the electrical contact is connected to a section of the electro-optically active material layer, which extends outside the core of the optical waveguide.

15. The circuit assembly according to claim 1 , wherein the core of the optical waveguide has a cross-section of at least 1 μm 2 or at least 5 μm 2 and/or the electro-optically active material layer has a thickness of not more than 500 nm or not more than 200 nm or not more than 50 nm.

16. The circuit assembly according to claim 1 , wherein the at least one electro-optically active material layer or a multilayer structure with the at least one electro-optically active material layer forms a modulator for modulating a light source external to the optical waveguide or is part of such a modulator, and/or the electro-optically active material layer forms a light detector or is part of a light detector and/or the electro-optically active material layer is formed to amplify light and/or to generate light or is part of a light amplifier, an LED or a laser.

17. A method for producing a circuit assembly, comprising the following steps:
providing a carrier;
arranging an amorphous material layer on the carrier, which forms a section of a cladding of an optical waveguide;
arranging at least one electro-optically active layer on the material layer;
producing an electrical contact which at least partially extends through the amorphous material layer or past the amorphous material layer up to the electro-optically active layer, wherein:
a cutout is produced in the amorphous material layer and the cutout is filled with a core material before arranging the electro-optically active layer in order to produce at least a part of a core of the optical waveguide, wherein the electro-optically active layer is arranged on the amorphous material layer such that it extends across the core material.

18. The method according to claim 17 , wherein before being arranged on the amorphous material layer the at least one electro-optically active layer is disposed on a carrier material different from the carrier, which is removed after arranging the electro-optically active layer on the amorphous material layer.

19. The method according to claim 18 , wherein the at least one electro-optically active layer is structured after removing the carrier material.

20. The method according to claim 17 , wherein on the amorphous material layer and the electro-optically active layer a core material layer is arranged and structured such that it at least forms a part of a core of the optical waveguide.

Assignees

• Fraunhofer Ges Forschung
• Fraunhofer Gesellschaf T Zur Foerderung Der Angewandten Forschung E V

Inventors

• Kleinert Moritz
• Schell Martin

Classifications

• G02B6/1221

  made from organic materials · CPC title

• G02B6/428

  containing printed circuit boards [PCB] · CPC title

• G02B2006/12069

  Organic material · CPC title

• G02F1/025

  in an optical waveguide structure (G02F1/017, {G02F1/2257} take precedence) · CPC title

• G02B2006/12126

  Light absorber · CPC title