Albert Michael Benzoni

AlO bonding: a method of joining oxide optical components to aluminum coated substrates

With the increased use of photonic packages, there are needs for reliable and low cost methods of attaching optical components. Packages based on silicon optical bench (SiOB) technology include oxide coated ball-lenses and silica fibers which are generally epoxied in anisotropically etched features of silicon substrates. The reliable attachment of these micro-optical components requires the application of small (approximately 1 nanoliter) quantities of epoxy at precise locations on the substrate. This is a time consuming process and requires considerable operator training and skill. Dispensing too much epoxy can deteriorate the optical performance of the device and dispensing too little results in an insufficient holding power. AlO bonding is an alternative attachment technique, under development, which forms solid-state bonds directly between these oxide-components and aluminum thin film coated silicon optical bench substrates and therefore does not require the handling of additives, such as epoxy, at the bond interface. This paper includes: methods of bonding ball-lenses and fibers; an interfacial analysis and proposed bonding mechanism derived from SEM/metallographic photomicrographs and thermodynamic data; destructive test results as a function of bonding and material parameters and; in situ loss measurements through AlO bonded components (multi-, single mode fibers and ball-lenses) during the bonding procedures and subsequent thermal cycling (-40 to 80/spl deg/C and from ambient to -195.8/spl deg/C) tests.<<ETX>>

Optical performance of low-cost self-aligned MCM-D based optical data links

We discuss the details of the design and performance of the optics proposed for a MCM-D based low-cost multimode optical data link. The optical system is completely self-aligned, taking advantage of flip-chip bonding, solder-bump self-alignment, mechanical self-alignment using silicon micromachining, and precision plastic components. Preliminary results demonstrate that the integral-lens design of the opto electronic device significantly effects the coupling efficiency and the requisite tolerances of the components that comprise the coupling optics. We show that coupling efficiencies of 70% or better are readily achievable with piece parts made using standard practices. These coupling efficiencies compare favorably with those in actively-aligned optical subassemblies used in current optical data link products.

High speed, high performance laser module

We will present the performance data and discuss a few pertinent design details of a cooled directly modulated laser (DML) module that is targeted for use in several SONET OC-192 applications and capable of addressing 10G Ethernet requirements. The intent of the presentation is to demonstrate the performance potential of the module operating at 1310 nm wavelength for these applications. The four primary technical areas of focus are: (1) the ability to continuously operate in adverse environmental conditions, i.e. 85/spl deg/C case temperature, (2) demonstrate transmission up to 80 km is achievable via use of, (3) a high efficiency optical coupling design, and (4) ease of RF interface due to low RF return loss and high bandwidth. These all assume that the lasers intrinsic design is properly specified and well matched to the package design. The regime of engineering design is approaching the practical limits and diminishing returns in terms of RF and optical coupling efficiencies. This suggests that further substantial improvements require a change in the underlying technology.