JP2006011211A - Manufacturing method of polymer optical waveguide, mold used therefor, and manufacturing method thereof - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a manufacturing method of a polymer optical waveguide of a good core shape by a extremely simplified manufacturing step at low cost, and to provide a mold used for the manufacturing method, and to provide a manufacturing method thereof. <P>SOLUTION: The manufacturing method of the polymer optical waveguide comprises; (1) a step for preparing the mold in which ultraviolet ray shielding masks are formed on recess unforming parts on a substrate surface of a recess forming side of an ultraviolet ray transmissive substrate with the recesses corresponding to the cores of the polymer optical waveguide; (2) a step for forming an ultraviolet curing resin layer for forming the cores between the recess forming faces of the mold and a lower clad substrate; (3) a step for filling the recesses of the mold with the ultraviolet curing resin for forming the cores; (4) a step for irradiation with ultraviolet rays from the ultraviolet ray shielding mask unforming side of the mold; (5) a step for detaching the mold and the lower clad base material, (6) a step for removing non-hard spots of the ultraviolet curing resin; and (7) a step for forming the upper clad on the core forming faces of the lower clad substrate, comprising the mold used for the manufacturing method, and the manufacturing method of the mold for forming the recesses corresponding to the polymer optical waveguide cores on the surface where the ultraviolet shielding layer is formed, after forming the ultraviolet shielding layer on the ultraviolet ray transmissive substrate. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a method for producing a polymer optical waveguide, a mold used therefor, and a method for producing the same, and more particularly to a method for producing a polymer optical waveguide having excellent mass productivity.

The polymer waveguide manufacturing method includes (1) a method of impregnating a film with a monomer and selectively exposing the core portion to change the refractive index to bond the films (selective polymerization method), and (2) a core layer. And a method of forming a cladding portion by reactive ion etching after applying the cladding layer (RIE method), and (3) exposure and development using an ultraviolet curable resin in which a photosensitive material is added to a polymer material. (4) Method of using injection molding, (5) Method of changing the refractive index of the core by exposing the core after coating the core and cladding layers (Photo bleaching method) has been proposed.
However, the selective polymerization method (1) has a problem in film bonding, and the methods (2) and (3) are expensive because the photolithographic method is used, and the method (4) can be obtained. There is a problem in the accuracy of the core diameter. Further, the method (5) has a problem that a sufficient refractive index difference between the core layer and the clad layer cannot be obtained.
At present, the practical methods excellent in performance are only the methods (2) and (3), but there is a problem of cost as described above. None of the methods (1) to (5) is applicable to forming a polymer waveguide on a flexible plastic substrate having a large area.

  On the other hand, the present inventors invented and filed a method for manufacturing a polymer optical waveguide by using a template as a completely different method from the conventional method for manufacturing a polymer optical waveguide as described above (the following patents). (Ref. 1 to 3). This method makes it possible to mass-produce polymer optical waveguides very simply and at low cost, and it is possible to produce polymer optical waveguides with low waveguide loss despite the simple method. Any pattern shape can be easily produced as long as the mold can be produced. Furthermore, it has become possible to produce an optical waveguide on a flexible base material that has been difficult to produce.

On the other hand, a method of replicating an optical component by a stamper method using a mold has been devised. For example, in Patent Document 4 below, a stamper having a concave shape in the shape of an optical function portion of an optical element to be manufactured and a first A liquid material that is cured by energy irradiation is injected between the concave forming surface of the stamper and the surface of the first substrate, and the liquid material is irradiated by irradiating energy from the back side of the first substrate. A method for manufacturing a grating coupler, comprising: curing, forming an optical element molding layer on the surface side of the first substrate, removing a stamper, and depositing an optical material on the optical element molding layer to form an optical element layer Is described.
When trying to form a waveguide core using the stamper used in this method, not only the recess formed in the stamper is filled with the core resin but also a continuous thin connecting the protrusions corresponding to the stamper recesses. A film portion (cured resin film) is also formed. Therefore, it is impossible to produce a so-called buried optical waveguide in which the entire periphery is surrounded by a clad using the stamper as described above.
JP 2004-29507 A JP 2004-86144 A JP 2004-109927 A Japanese Patent No. 3035788

  The present invention has been made in view of the problems as described above, and its purpose is to easily manufacture a polymer optical waveguide having a good core shape at a low cost by a very simplified manufacturing process. It is another object of the present invention to provide a novel method and to provide a mold used in the production method and a production method thereof.

The above-described problems are solved by providing the following method for producing a polymer optical waveguide, a mold, and a method for producing the same.
(1) 1) A step of preparing a mold in which an ultraviolet ray transmissive base material having a concave portion corresponding to the core of the polymer optical waveguide is provided with an ultraviolet shielding mask on a concave portion non-formed portion of the concave portion forming side substrate surface; ) A step of forming a core-forming UV curable resin layer between the concave portion forming surface of the mold and the lower clad substrate; 3) a step of filling the concave portion of the mold with the core-forming UV curable resin; A step of irradiating ultraviolet rays from the side where the ultraviolet shielding mask is not formed, 5) a step of peeling the mold and the base material for the lower clad, 6) a step of removing the non-cured portion of the ultraviolet curable resin, and 7) a base for the lower clad A method of manufacturing a polymer optical waveguide, comprising: forming an upper clad on a core forming surface of a material.

(2) The method for producing a polymer optical waveguide according to (1), wherein the ultraviolet light transmissive substrate according to (1) is glass.

(3) The method for producing a polymer optical waveguide according to (1), wherein a mold release agent treatment is performed on the concave portion forming surface of the mold.
(4) The method for producing a polymer optical waveguide according to (3) above, wherein the release agent for the release agent treatment is an ultraviolet light permeable fluorinated resin.
(5) The method for producing a polymer optical waveguide according to (3), wherein the release agent for the release agent treatment is an ultraviolet light transmissive silicone resin.

(6) The method for producing a polymer optical waveguide according to (3), wherein the ozone treatment is performed before the release agent treatment.
(7) The method for producing a polymer optical waveguide according to (3) above, wherein an excimer light irradiation treatment is performed before the release agent treatment.
(8) The method for producing a polymer optical waveguide according to (3), wherein the silane coupling agent treatment is performed before the release agent treatment.

(9) The method for producing a polymer optical waveguide according to (1), wherein the step (2) and / or the step (3) are performed in a reduced-pressure atmosphere.

The method for producing a polymer optical waveguide according to (1), wherein the lower clad base material is a flexible film.
(11) The method for producing a polymer optical waveguide according to (10), wherein the film is an alicyclic olefin resin film.
(12) The method for producing a polymer optical waveguide according to (11), wherein the alicyclic olefin resin film is a resin film having a norbornene structure in the main chain and a polar group in the side chain. .

(13) The ultraviolet ray shielding mask is a metal film selected from Al, Cu, Cr, Ni, Ag, Pt, and Au, or a film of an alloy of the metal. A method for producing a polymer optical waveguide.

(14) A mold used in the method for producing a polymer optical waveguide according to (1) above, comprising: an ultraviolet transmissive substrate; and a polymer optical waveguide provided on one surface of the ultraviolet transmissive substrate. A mold used in the method for producing a polymer optical waveguide according to (1) above, which has a concave portion corresponding to the core and an ultraviolet shielding mask provided in a concave portion non-formed portion of the concave portion formation side substrate surface.
(15) The method for producing a mold according to (14), wherein a concave portion corresponding to the core of the polymer optical waveguide is formed on the surface on which the ultraviolet shielding layer is formed after the ultraviolet shielding layer is formed on the ultraviolet transmissive substrate. .
(16) The method for producing a mold according to (15), wherein the recess is formed by reactive ion etching.

  Since the method for producing a polymer optical waveguide of the present invention uses a mold provided with a mask for shielding in advance, only the ultraviolet curable resin in the region to function as the core can be cured, while other unnecessary Since the part maintains an uncured state, it can be easily removed with an organic solvent or the like. Therefore, a polymer optical waveguide having a good core shape can be produced at a low cost by a very simplified production process by the production method of the present invention.

[Method for producing polymer optical waveguide]
First, a method for producing a polymer optical waveguide will be described. The method for producing a polymer optical waveguide of the present invention is performed by the following steps.
1) Step of preparing a mold in which an ultraviolet light shielding base material having a concave portion corresponding to the core of the polymer optical waveguide is provided with an ultraviolet shielding mask provided on the concave portion forming side surface of the concave portion forming substrate. Step of forming a layer of a core-forming ultraviolet curable resin (hereinafter sometimes referred to simply as “ultraviolet curable resin”) between the forming surface and the lower clad substrate 3) Core forming ultraviolet curable in the mold recess Step 4 for filling resin 4) Step for irradiating ultraviolet rays from the side of the mold not forming the UV shielding mask 5) Step for peeling the mold from the lower clad substrate 6) Step 7 for removing the non-cured portion of the UV curable resin ) Step of forming upper clad on core forming surface of base material for lower clad Further, the case where the steps 2) and 3) are performed simultaneously or substantially simultaneously is also included in the scope of the present invention.

First, the manufacturing process of the polymer optical waveguide of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG.
FIG. 1 (A) shows an example of a mold in which an ultraviolet light shielding base material having a concave portion corresponding to the core of a polymer optical waveguide is provided with an ultraviolet shielding mask on a concave portion-unformed portion on a concave portion-forming substrate surface. Reference numeral 10 denotes a mold, 12 denotes an ultraviolet transparent substrate, 14 denotes a recess corresponding to the core of the polymer optical waveguide, and 16 denotes an ultraviolet shielding mask. The ultraviolet shielding mask is formed in the concave portion non-forming portion on the concave portion forming side substrate surface.
Next, in FIG. 1B, a layer of an ultraviolet curable resin for core formation (hereinafter sometimes simply referred to as “ultraviolet curable resin”) is formed between the concave portion forming surface of the mold and the lower clad base material. Thereafter, the mold concave portion is filled with an ultraviolet curable resin, and in this state, ultraviolet rays are irradiated from the ultraviolet shielding mask non-formation side of the mold to cure the mold concave portion and the ultraviolet curable resin existing therebelow. The ultraviolet curable resin in the portion shielded by the ultraviolet shielding mask maintains an uncured state. The cured portion of the ultraviolet curable resin is indicated by 30a, and the uncured portion is indicated by 30b. As shown in FIG. 1 (B), an ultraviolet curable resin layer is formed between the mold and the lower clad substrate, so that the height of the formed waveguide core is set to the depth of the mold recess. The thickness of this layer is added. Therefore, the “recess corresponding to the core of the polymer optical waveguide” is a recess having a depth obtained by subtracting the thickness of the layer from the height of the target waveguide core.

FIG. 1C shows a state in which the mold is peeled off from the state shown in FIG. 1B and the uncured ultraviolet curable resin is removed. A structure in which a waveguide core 40 (30a, which is a hardened portion in FIG. 1B) is formed on the lower clad substrate 20 is obtained.
FIG. 1 (D) shows a state in which a polymer optical waveguide is produced by laminating an upper clad 60 on the core forming surface of the lower clad substrate 20 via an adhesive layer 50.

Next, each process in the polymer optical waveguide manufacturing method of the present invention will be described in detail.
1) Step of preparing a mold in which an ultraviolet light shielding base material having a concave portion corresponding to the core of a polymer optical waveguide is provided with an ultraviolet shielding mask on a concave portion non-forming portion of the concave portion forming side substrate surface. A method is preferably used in which an ultraviolet shielding layer is first formed on the entire surface of the ultraviolet transparent substrate, and then a recess corresponding to the core of the polymer optical waveguide is formed on the surface on which the ultraviolet shielding layer is formed. As a method for forming the ultraviolet shielding layer, a vacuum deposition method, a sputtering method, an ion plating method, an electron beam deposition method, a plating method, or the like is used. As a method for forming the concave portion, a reactive ion etching method is used. For example, a physical etching method or a chemical etching method is used.
As the ultraviolet transmissive substrate of the mold, a glass substrate, a quartz substrate, a film substrate, or the like is used. Moreover, as a material used for the said ultraviolet shielding mask, metals, such as Al, Cu, Cr, Ni, Ag, Pt, Au, or an alloy of these metals is used.

The mold forming surface of the mold is preferably subjected to a release agent treatment from the viewpoint that the mold and the lower clad base material can be easily peeled after filling and curing the ultraviolet curable resin in the subsequent mold depression. The release agent to be used needs to be UV transmissive, and for example, UV permeable fluorinated resin, silicone resin, or the like is used.
Moreover, it is preferable to perform the ozone treatment or the excimer light irradiation treatment on the surface of the ultraviolet transmissive substrate before performing the release agent treatment to enhance the adhesive property of the release agent to the ultraviolet transmissive substrate. In addition to the above treatment, it is also effective to perform a silane coupling treatment.

2) A step of forming an ultraviolet curable resin layer for forming a core between the concave portion forming surface of the mold and the lower clad base material. An ultraviolet curable resin layer is formed between the concave portion forming surface of the mold and the lower clad base material. As a method of forming, after applying an ultraviolet curable resin to the recess forming surface of the mold and / or the base material for the lower clad, the mold and the base material for the lower clad are brought into close contact with each other. And a method of filling an ultraviolet curable resin between the mold and the base material for the lower cladding. In the case of the latter filling method, it is preferable to carry out in a reduced pressure atmosphere.
As the core-forming ultraviolet curable resin, an ultraviolet curable monomer, an oligomer, or a mixture of a monomer and an oligomer is preferably used.
In addition, an epoxy-based, polyimide-based, or acrylic-based ultraviolet curable resin is preferably used as the ultraviolet curable resin.
The ultraviolet curable resin needs to have a sufficiently low viscosity in order to fill the mold recess. The viscosity of the ultraviolet curable resin is 10 mPa · s to 2000 mPa · s, desirably 100 mPa · s to 1000 mPa · s, more preferably 300 mPa · s to 700 mPa · s. This is preferable from the viewpoint of low light loss.
In addition, in order to accurately reproduce the original shape of the convex portion corresponding to the optical waveguide core formed on the master, it is necessary that the volume change before and after curing of the ultraviolet curable resin is small. For example, a reduction in volume causes waveguide loss. Therefore, it is desirable that the ultraviolet curable resin has a volume change as small as possible, and it is desirable that it is 10% or less, preferably 0.01 to 4%. Lowering the viscosity using a solvent is preferably avoided if possible because the volume change before and after curing is large.

As the base material for the lower clad used in the present invention, a glass base material, a ceramic base material, a plastic base material and the like can be used without limitation. Moreover, what coated the resin to the said base material for refractive index control is also used. Although the refractive index of the clad substrate needs to be smaller than the refractive index of the core, it is smaller than 1.55 and more preferably smaller than 1.52 in order to increase the selectivity of the core material. Further, the lower clad base material is preferably flat and excellent in adhesion to the mold, and when both are brought into close contact with each other, no void is generated other than the mold recess. Further, when the clad substrate is not very good in adhesion with the mold and / or the core, treatment with an ozone atmosphere and ultraviolet irradiation treatment with a wavelength of 300 nm or less may be performed to improve adhesion with the mold or the like. preferable.
Among plastic substrates, polymer optical waveguides using flexible film substrates can be used as couplers, optical interconnections between boards, optical demultiplexers, and the like. The film substrate has optical properties such as refractive index and light transmittance, mechanical strength, heat resistance, adhesion to the mold, and flexibility depending on the use of the polymer optical waveguide to be produced. (Flexibility) and the like.

Examples of the material for the film base include acrylic resins (polymethyl methacrylate, etc.), alicyclic acrylic resins, styrene resins (polystyrene, acrylonitrile / styrene copolymers, etc.), olefin resins (polyethylene, polypropylene, ethylene Propylene copolymer, etc.), alicyclic olefin resin, vinyl chloride resin, vinylidene chloride resin, vinyl alcohol resin, vinyl butyral resin, arylate resin, fluorine-containing resin, polyester resin (polyethylene terephthalate, polyethylene naphthalate) Phthalate, etc.), polycarbonate resin, cellulose di- or triacetate, amide resin (aliphatic, aromatic polyamide, etc.), imide resin, sulfone resin, polyether sulfone resin, polyether ether ketone resin, polyphenyle Sulfide resins, polyoxymethylene-based resin or a blend of the resin, and the like.
Further, when the film substrate is not very good in adhesion to the mold and / or the core, treatment with an ozone atmosphere and ultraviolet irradiation treatment with a wavelength of 300 nm or less are performed to improve adhesion with the mold and the like. Is preferred.

As the alicyclic acrylic resin, OZ-1000, OZ-1100 (manufactured by Hitachi Chemical Co., Ltd.) or the like in which an aliphatic cyclic hydrocarbon such as tricyclodecane is introduced into an ester substituent is used.
The alicyclic olefin resins include those having a norbornene structure in the main chain, and those having a norbornene structure in the main chain and an alkyloxycarbonyl group in the side chain (alkyl groups having 1 to 6 carbon atoms or cycloalkyl). And those having a polar group such as a group). Among them, the alicyclic olefin resin having a norbornene structure in the main chain and a polar group such as an alkyloxycarbonyl group in the side chain as described above has a low refractive index (refractive index is around 1.50, core clad In particular, the polymer optical waveguide of the present invention has excellent optical characteristics such as high light transmittance, excellent adhesion to a mold, and excellent heat resistance. Suitable for making.

The refractive index of the film substrate needs to be smaller than the refractive index of the core, but is preferably smaller than 1.55, preferably smaller than 1.52, in order to increase the selectivity of the core material.
The thickness of the film substrate is appropriately selected in consideration of flexibility, rigidity, ease of handling, etc., and is generally preferably about 0.1 mm to 0.5 mm.

3) Step of filling mold recess with UV curable resin After forming a layer of UV curable resin between the recess forming surface of the mold and the lower clad base material, the mold recess is filled with UV curable resin. Fill the recess with UV curable resin by pressurizing the mold and lower clad substrate, placing the mold and lower clad substrate in close contact in a reduced-pressure atmosphere, or using both It is done by things. Generation of bubbles can be prevented by carrying out under a reduced pressure atmosphere.

4) Step of irradiating ultraviolet rays from the side of the mold where the ultraviolet shielding mask is not formed After filling the mold recess with an ultraviolet curable resin, the mold is irradiated with ultraviolet rays from the side where the ultraviolet shielding mask is not formed. Since the UV shielding mask is provided in the concave portion of the mold, only the UV curable resin in the mold concave portion and the lower portion of the concave portion is cured. For curing the ultraviolet curable resin, an ultraviolet lamp, an ultraviolet LED, a UV irradiation device, or the like is used. In order to limit the cured portion of the ultraviolet curable resin to the mold recess and the lower portion of the recess, it is preferable to irradiate parallel light (for example, vertical parallel light to the mold) in consideration of the light irradiation direction.

5) Step of peeling the mold and the lower clad substrate After the predetermined part of the UV curable resin is cured by the step 4), the mold and the lower clad substrate are peeled off, and then the waveguide is passed to the lower clad substrate. A core is formed.

6) Step of removing the non-cured portion of the ultraviolet curable resin As a method of removing the non-cured portion of the ultraviolet curable resin, the ultraviolet curable resin is dissolved and the cured product of the ultraviolet curable resin and the ultraviolet transmissive substrate are used. A method of dissolving and removing using a solvent that does not dissolve is preferable.

7) Process of forming upper clad on core forming surface of base material for lower clad A clad layer is formed on a base material for lower clad on which a core is formed. The lower clad base material used in the above is used in the same manner), a layer cured by applying a curable resin for clad, a polymer film obtained by applying a solvent solution of a polymer material and drying Etc. As the curable resin for cladding, an ultraviolet curable resin or a thermosetting resin is preferably used. For example, an ultraviolet curable or thermosetting monomer, an oligomer, or a mixture of a monomer and an oligomer is used. The viscosity of the curable resin for cladding is preferably about 10 mPa · s to 2000 mPa · s so that it can be easily applied to a uniform film thickness.
The volume change (shrinkage) of the clad curable resin after curing is preferably 10% or less, and more preferably 6% or less. In order to reduce the volume change, a polymer (for example, methacrylic acid type, epoxy type) that is compatible with the resin and does not adversely affect the refractive index, elastic modulus, and transmission characteristics of the resin is added to the resin. be able to.

When a film is used as the upper clad, it is bonded using an adhesive. At this time, it is desirable that the refractive index of the adhesive is close to the refractive index of the film. As the adhesive to be used, an ultraviolet curable resin or a thermosetting resin is preferably used. For example, an ultraviolet curable or thermosetting monomer, an oligomer, or a mixture of a monomer and an oligomer is used.
In order to reduce the volume change (shrinkage) after curing of the ultraviolet curable resin or the thermosetting resin, a polymer similar to the polymer added to the cladding layer can be added.
The difference in refractive index between the clad substrate and the clad layer is preferably small, and the difference is within 0.05, preferably within 0.001, and more preferably no difference from the point of light confinement. This is preferable.

EXAMPLES Hereinafter, the present invention will be described more specifically with reference to examples. However, the present invention is not limited to these examples.
Example 1
An ultraviolet shielding film was formed on a quartz substrate (thickness: 0.09 inch) by providing a Ni metal film with a thickness of 300 nm by sputtering. Next, eight concave portions (width: 50 μm, height: 50 μm, length: 80 mm) having a square cross section were formed on the surface provided with the Ni film by reactive ion etching. The distance between the recesses was 250 μm. A mold was prepared in which a UV shielding mask was provided on the non-recessed portion. A fluorinated resin (Cytop: manufactured by Asahi Glass Co., Ltd.) was applied to the mold as a release agent to a thickness of 100 nm.

An ultraviolet curable resin (JSR (viscous)) having a viscosity of 600 mPa · s was formed on this mold and a lower clad film base material (Arton Film, manufactured by JSR Co., Ltd., refractive index 1.510) having a film thickness slightly larger than the mold. Co., Ltd.) was applied by spin coating to a layer thickness of 55 μm, and the mold was brought into close contact with and pressurized, thereby filling the concave portion of the mold with an ultraviolet curable resin. Next, UV curing was performed by irradiating 50 mW / cm ² of UV parallel light vertically from the top of the mold for 2 minutes. The mold was peeled off from the ARTON film, and the uncured portion of the UV curable resin was dissolved and removed with an organic solvent (acetone). As a result, a convex core was formed on the ARTON film. The refractive index of the core was 1.55.

Next, an ultraviolet curable resin (manufactured by JSR Co., Ltd.) having a refractive index after curing of 1.510, which is the same as that of ARTON film, was applied to the core forming surface of ARTON film, and then an upper clad film having a film thickness of 188 μm ( Arton film, JSR Co., Ltd., refractive index 1.510) is bonded, and two films cured by UV irradiation at 50 mW / cm ² for 2 minutes are bonded to each other to form a 500 μm thick polymer. An optical waveguide film was obtained. Next, the film was cut at right angles to the longitudinal direction of the core using a dicing saw to produce a polymer optical waveguide.

Example 2
In Example 1, a template was prepared in the same manner as in Example 1 except that the ozone treatment was performed before the release agent treatment, and a polymer waveguide was produced in the same manner.

Example 3
A template was prepared in the same manner as in Example 2. Next, an ultraviolet curable resin (refractive index 1.51: manufactured by NTT-AT) is applied on a glass substrate to a thickness of 10 μm by spin coating, and cured by irradiation with ultraviolet rays for 2 minutes to form a base material for lower cladding. It was. Next, an ultraviolet curable resin (manufactured by NTT-AT Co., Ltd.) having a viscosity of 600 mPa · s is applied to a thickness of 55 μm by a spin coat method, and a mold is brought into intimate contact therewith and pressurized, and ultraviolet rays are applied to the concave portions of the mold. Filled with cured resin. Next, UV curing was performed by irradiating 50 mW / cm ² of UV parallel light vertically from the top of the mold for 2 minutes. Thereafter, the mold was peeled off from the glass substrate, and the uncured portion of the ultraviolet curable resin was dissolved and removed with an organic solvent (acetone). As a result, a core was formed on the lower clad base material. The refractive index of the core was 1.55. Next, an ultraviolet curable resin (refractive index 1.51: manufactured by NTT-AT) was applied as an upper clad by a 10 μm spin coating method, and cured by irradiation with ultraviolet rays for 2 minutes to produce a waveguide.

It is a conceptual diagram which shows the manufacturing process of the polymer optical waveguide in this invention.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Mold 12 Ultraviolet transparent base material 14 Mold recessed part 16 Ultraviolet shielding mask 20 Lower clad base material 30a Cured part 30b of ultraviolet curable resin 40 Uncured part 40 of ultraviolet curable resin Waveguide core 50 Adhesive layer 60 Upper clad 100 Polymer optical waveguide

Claims (16)

  1) Step of preparing a mold in which a UV-ray transparent base material having a recess corresponding to the core of the polymer optical waveguide is provided with a UV-shielding mask on a recess-unformed portion on the recess-forming substrate surface. A step of forming a core-forming UV-curable resin layer between the recess-forming surface and the lower clad substrate; 3) a step of filling the mold-forming recess with a core-forming UV-curable resin; A step of irradiating ultraviolet rays from the mask non-formation side, 5) a step of peeling the mold and the lower clad substrate, 6) a step of removing the non-cured portion of the ultraviolet curable resin, and 7) a core of the lower clad substrate. A method for producing a polymer optical waveguide, comprising: forming an upper clad on a formation surface.   The method for producing a polymer optical waveguide according to claim 1, wherein the ultraviolet transparent substrate according to claim 1 is glass.   The method for producing a polymer optical waveguide according to claim 1, wherein a mold release agent treatment is performed on the concave surface of the mold.   4. The method for producing a polymer optical waveguide according to claim 3, wherein the release agent for the release agent treatment is a UV-transparent fluorinated resin.   4. The method for producing a polymer optical waveguide according to claim 3, wherein the release agent for the release agent treatment is an ultraviolet transmissive silicone resin.   The method for producing a polymer optical waveguide according to claim 3, wherein ozone treatment is performed before the release agent treatment.     4. The method for producing a polymer optical waveguide according to claim 3, wherein an excimer light irradiation treatment is performed before the release agent treatment.   The method for producing a polymer optical waveguide according to claim 3, wherein the silane coupling agent treatment is performed before the release agent treatment.   2. The method for producing a polymer optical waveguide according to claim 1, wherein the step 2) and / or the step 3) are performed in a reduced pressure atmosphere.   The method for producing a polymer optical waveguide according to claim 1, wherein the lower clad base material is a flexible film.   The method for producing a polymer optical waveguide according to claim 10, wherein the film is an alicyclic olefin resin film.   12. The method for producing a polymer optical waveguide according to claim 11, wherein the alicyclic olefin resin film is a resin film having a norbornene structure in the main chain and a polar group in the side chain.   2. The polymer optical waveguide according to claim 1, wherein the ultraviolet shielding mask is a metal film selected from Al, Cu, Cr, Ni, Ag, Pt, and Au, or a film of the metal alloy. Manufacturing method.   It is a casting_mold | template used for the manufacturing method of the polymer optical waveguide of Claim 1, Comprising: It respond | corresponds to the core of the polymer optical waveguide provided in one surface of the ultraviolet-ray transmissive base material and the ultraviolet-ray transmissive base material. The mold used in the method for producing a polymer optical waveguide according to claim 1, further comprising: a concave portion and an ultraviolet shielding mask provided on the concave portion-unformed portion on the concave portion-forming substrate surface.   The method for producing a mold according to claim 14, wherein after forming the ultraviolet shielding layer on the ultraviolet transmissive substrate, a recess corresponding to the core of the polymer optical waveguide is formed on the surface on which the ultraviolet shielding layer is formed.   The method for producing a mold according to claim 15, wherein the concave portion is formed by reactive ion etching.

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