Fully passive-alignment pluggable compact parallel optical interconnection modules based on a direct-butt-coupling structure for fiber-optic applications

Abstract

A low-cost packaging method utilizing a fully passive optical alignment and surface-mounting method is demonstrated for pluggable compact and slim multichannel optical interconnection modules using a VCSEL/PIN-PD chip array. The modules are based on a nonplanar bent right-angle electrical signal path on a silicon platform and direct-butt-optical coupling without a bulky and expensive microlens array. The measured optical direct-butt-coupling efficiencies of each channel without any bulky optics are as high as 33% and 95% for the transmitter and receiver, respectively. Excellent lateral optical alignment tolerance of larger than 60 μm for both the transmitter and receiver module significantly reduces the manufacturing and material costs as well as the packaging time. The clear eye diagrams, extinction ratios higher than 8 dB at 10.3 Gbps for the transmitter module, and receiver sensitivity of better than −13.1 dBm at 10.3 Gbps and a bit error rate of 10−12 for all channels are demonstrated. Considering that the optical output power of the transmitter is greater than 0 dBm, the module has a sufficient power margin of about 13 dB for 10.3 Gbps operations for all channels.