3D printed assembly and software development for silicon photonics sensor device measurement

Abstract

© 2020 SPIE. We developed an economical assembly for a silicon photonics resonator device including a device mount and lensed fiber holders for input and output fibers. The parts are fabricated by 3D printing technology using resin with digital light processing (DLP) technique and cured with UV light (405nm). The lensed fibers are aligned to the device waveguides using 6-axis aligner platform and their holders are affixed to the device mount by UV glue. Our in-house assembly module is able to firmly affix the fiber holders to the device mount and align the input and output lens fibers to the device spot size converter (SSC) of dimension 3.4 × 3.5 μm2. After alignment completion, the assembly can be detached from the aligner stage to be used in un-stabilized benchtop measurement system. The benchtop measurement system for the silicon photonic sensor device consists of a tunable laser, a polarizer, an optical power meter, and a container housing the device assembly, peristalsis pump and control circuits that was developed inhouse for microfluidics control having flow rate in the level of nanoliter/minute. In addition, a software has been developed for the measurement of the device resonant wavelength and wavelength shift due to sensor activity. We have demonstrated that the silicon photonics resonator that has been mounted on our assembly in the above measurement system showed acceptable performance by comparing the results with those obtained by mounting the device on stabilized fiber alignment platform. Thus, the 3D printed assembly may be used for silicon photonics device mount in early portable sensor prototype development.