Published online by Cambridge University Press: 10 February 2011
This paper reports the fabrication and characterization of polyimide branching waveguides for on-chip optical signal distribution in GaAs-based optoelectronic integrated circuits (OEICs). Low-loss polyimide s-bends and splitters with good splitting ratios and angles considerably larger than similar structures made from inorganic (e.g. LiNbO3) and semiconductor (e.g. GaAs, InP) materials, have been successfully fabricated and tested. The effects of the radius of curvature, splitter angle and cladding materials on the optical losses are discussed.