(519a) An Additive Manufacturing Process for Producing Integrated Optoelectronic Flexible Electronics

The integration of flexible photonic components into flexible electronics has created new applications in imaging, sensing and optical interconnection between devices. While the majority of photonic devices are printed on rigid substrates, the photonic integration of devices on flexible polymer substrates has been demonstrated in recent years. However, current technology of contact and non-contact processes limits the type and performance of optical devices on these flexible substrates. Here we show that by utilizing recent advances in additive manufacturing, we can print photonic interconnects directly on flexible substrates. For our proof of concept devices, we have shown negligible changes in transmission losses through substrate bending at moderate bend radii down to about 20 mm. The results demonstrate how flexible optoelectronic devices can be produced using additive manufacturing tools. Furthermore, our composite direct write additive manufacturing system of micro-dispensing, fused deposition modeling, and laser subtraction has the unique ability to produce flexible optoelectronics in a single automated process. We anticipate that our flexible integrated optoelectronics devices to be a starting point in the development of more sophisticated devices.