Cost Analysis: All-Inorganic NIL vs. Etched Waveguides – Part 2: Economics
Click below to download the white paper In Part 1 of this series, we compared the processes, performance and features of glass waveguides fabricated using Myrias Optics’ Nano Imprint Lithography (NIL) approach using all-inorganic ink vs. an all-etched fabrication approach. Part 1 showed that an all-inorganic NIL waveguide can match the performance of an etched solution for high refractive index glass. In Part 2, released here, we show the results of a rigorous cost model analysis of the two approaches to achieve 1 million yielded waveguides. The bottom line – there is a significant cost advantage with the Myrias Optics’ NIL approach compared to the etch approach. At a $350 substrate cost for example, 3-etch waveguides are 3.4 times more expensive to process. Why is the etch process so much more expensive? While costs for masters/photomasks, substrates, ink/resist, facilities and labor vary in a range of dollars or tens of dollars, the
