Description
The digitalization will continue to increase in the coming years and will probably reach undreamt dimensions. In the course of Industry 4.0 and the associated networking of plant parks, modern transportation in air on road and on water, and last but not least modern life with smart home and constant connection to the internet via smartphone, the status "offline" will probably no longer exist in the near future. Currently, ways and means have to be found to store the ever increasing data packets and to make them transferable in real time if possible.
At this point the research work carried out here starts and presents for the first time the possibility of a user-defined applying of polymer optical waveguides (POWs) by digital direct printing using the example of aerosol-jetprinting on the respective substrate surface. The POWs generated in this way achieve values of transmittance over 91 %, attenuation rates of up to 0.2 dB/cm and are capable of transmitting up to 10 Gbit/s, which qualifies them for the necessary substitution of metallic conductors.
Based on the fundamentals of optical data transmission, a definition of the term polymer optical waveguide and its differentiation from common waveguide forms is given by the manufacturing process used. Subsequently, the OPTAVER-Process and the associated process chain are described. During the qualification of the manufacturing process, important basics for future further work and first industrial applications could be developed. In AJ-printing, POWs with optical quality can be built up on three-dimensional surfaces, but there are still some challenges that have to be met. Suitable materials, process parameters, qualification and characterization and modelling methods could be identified and their suitability evaluated.
In future applications, the technology presented here should therefore be taken into account, since resources, materials and weight can be saved, and a fully functional network structure can be adapted to the respective requirements. A few adjustments to the machine settings can manipulate the length, width, height, layout and the associated data transmission capacity. Finally, the solution approach presented here is characterized by its environmental friendliness, as the use of chemicals, which are needed in standard etching or developing processes, can be dispensed with.
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