Abstract
Significant challenges exist in the thermal control of Photonics Integrated Circuits (PICs) for use in optical communications. Increasing component density coupled with greater functionality is leading to higher device-level heat fluxes, stretching the capabilities of conventional cooling methods using thermoelectric modules (TEMs). A tailored thermal control solution incorporating micro thermoelectric modules (μTEMs) to individually address hotspots within PICs could provide an energy efficient alternative to existing control methods. Performance characterisation is required to establish the suitability of commercially-available μTEMs for the operating conditions in current and next generation PICs. The objective of this paper is to outline a novel method for the characterisation of thermoelectric modules (TEMs), which utilises infra-red (IR) heat transfer and temperature measurement to obviate the need for mechanical stress on the upper surface of low compression tolerance (~0.5N) μTEMs. The method is benchmarked using a commercially-available macro scale TEM, comparing experimental data to the manufacturer's performance data sheet.
Highlights
Photonics Integrated Circuits (PICs) increasingly feature in today’s optical communication systems, in order to realise devices with greater spectral efficiency and reduced power losses
Characterising commercially-available μTEMs is essential to determine their suitability for PIC applications
This approach is concerned with the fundamental thermoelectric material properties and their efficiency in thermoelectric modules (TEMs) operation
Summary
Photonics Integrated Circuits (PICs) increasingly feature in today’s optical communication systems, in order to realise devices with greater spectral efficiency and reduced power losses. PICs can represent a stringent packaging challenge, in terms of their requirements for thermal control. Devices such as laser arrays can feature tight temperature limits (±0.1K), low operating temperatures (as low as 45°C), moderate heat loads (~1W) but very high heat fluxes (over 102 W/cm). The first is the characterisation of thermoelectric parameters [1,2,3,4,5] such as Seebeck coefficient (α), module conductivity (KM) and module electrical resistance (R), leading to the calculation of the thermoelectric figure of merit (Z) This approach is concerned with the fundamental thermoelectric material properties and their efficiency in TEM operation.
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