Marika Immonen

Fabrication and characterization of polymer optical waveguides with integrated micromirrors for three-dimensional board-level optical interconnects

This paper describes the fabrication and characterization of optical/electrical printed circuit boards (O/E-PCB) with embedded multimodal step index (MM-SI) waveguides and integrated out-of-plane micromirrors (IMMs) for three-dimensional (3-D) optical interconnects. Optical circuitry is built up on PCBs using UV lithography; 45/spl deg/ input/output (I/O) couplers are fabricated by inclined exposure. Commercial polymers are used as optical core and cladding materials. Critical mirror properties of angle, surface quality, reflectivity, and coupling efficiency are characterized experimentally and theoretically. Optical and scanning electron microscopy, white light interferometry, and fiber scanning method are used in the investigations. Sloping profiles measured as a function of the incident light showed the attainment of mirror angles of /spl alpha/=36/spl deg/-45/spl deg/ with /spl plusmn/2/spl deg/ consistency. Near-field optical imaging with a white light source showed that out-of-plane beam turning was achieved. Topography investigations revealed a rectilinear negative tapering shape regardless of the incoming beam angle or type of substrate. However, higher substrate reflectancy was observed to lower the mirror angle. The average propagation loss measured for 10-cm-long waveguides at /spl lambda/=850 nm by the cut-back method was 0.60 dB/cm; the excess loss calculated for the mirror coupling was 1.8-2.3 dB. The results showed that the IMMs can be incorporated in O/E-PCBs to couple light in and out of planar waveguides. Furthermore, the presented results indicate that optical waveguides with integrated micromirrors for optical 3-D wiring can be produced compatible with volume manufacturing techniques.

Embedded optical interconnect on printed wiring board

Integration of high-speed parallel optical interconnects into printed wiring boards (PWB) is studied. The aim is a hybrid optical-electrical board including both electrical wiring and embedded polymer waveguides. Robust optical coupling between the waveguide and the emitter/detector should be achieved by the use of automated pick-and-place assembly. Different coupling schemes were analyzed by combining non-sequential ray tracing with Monte-Carlo tolerance simulation of misalignments. A modular demonstrator was designed based on three different kind of optical coupling schemes: butt-coupling and couplings based on microlens arrays and on micro ball lenses. The optical front-ends were implemented with PIN and flip-chip-VCSEL arrays as well as 10-Gb/s/channel electronics onto LTCC-based (low-temperature co-fired ceramic) transmitter and receiver modules, which were surface mounted on high-speed PWBs. An electrical simulation model was developed for the design of a VCSEL-based transmitter circuit. Polymer waveguides were fabricated on separate FR-4 boards to allow characterization of alignment tolerances with different waveguides. Optical and adhesion properties of several potential waveguide materials were characterized. The simulations and experiments suggest that, with optimized optomechanical structures and with low loss waveguides, it is possible to achieve acceptable total path loss and yield with the accuracy of automated assembly.

Investigation of Environmental Reliability of Optical Polymer Waveguides Embedded on Printed Circuit Boards

In this paper, the effects of environmental stresses on the properties of polymer optical waveguides were studied. Optical multimode waveguides were fabricated on printed circuit boards using commercial polymers. The stability of the optical properties of the guide systems was investigated in damp heat-high humidity, high temperature storage, thermal shock and in environmental flowing multigas tests. Aging at high temperature and temperature cycling reduced the refractive index to largest extent. The optical build-up (o-BU) structure in which the optical layer was fabricated on the board surface was observed to be vulnerable under temperature shock when compared with the structure where the optical layer was laminated inside the FR4/Cu boards. The buffer layer beneath the optical build-up was found to improve the stability of the optical waveguides significantly.

Fabrication of polymer optical waveguides with integrated micromirrors for out-of-plane surface normal optical interconnects

In this communication, the fabrication and characterization results of O/E-PWBs comprising multimode polymer waveguides with optical-I/O-coupling facets are presented. The epoxy-based glycidyl ether derivative of bisphenol-A novolac (SU-8) and its refractive index modified grade (L6100) polymers are used as the optical waveguide core and the cladding, respectively. The waveguides with integrated 45° out-of-plane turning micromirrors are fabricated using ultraviolet (UV) lithography. The surface topography and sloping angle characterization using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) showed that 45-degree nearly rectilinear mirror planes were achieved. Parallel waveguide channels with the total-internal-reflection (TIR) are fabricated as an optical-build-up layer on conventional PWBs for functional evaluation. The waveguide transmission loss of the guides with and without the mirror facets is measured using the cut-hack method.

Development of electro‐optical PCBs with polymer waveguides for high‐speed intra‐system interconnects

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to study fabrication of optical‐PCBs on panel scale boards in a conventional modern PCB process environment. It evaluates impacts on board design and manufacturing with the developed optical board verifiers outlining challenges and requirements for manufacturing low‐loss waveguide structures and optical building blocks. The study aims to expand the current knowledge in the field by adding results obtained by utilizing industrial production infrastructure and developed scalable manufacturing processes to fabricate optical‐PCBs and board assemblies in high‐volumes and low‐cost manner.Design/methodology/approach – Impacts on board design and manufacturing were studied with the developed optical technology verifiers. One verifier is optical‐PCB with embedded waveguides, integrated i/o couplers and optical vias. Another verifier is large size PCB with optical layer. A system‐level optical board assembly with 12.5 Gb/s Tx/Rx devices on surface mounted ball grid array (BGA)...

Investigation of environmental reliability of optical polymer waveguides embedded on printed circuit boards

Purpose – To investigate the influences of environmental stresses on board‐embedded polymeric waveguides.Design/methodology/approach – Optical multimode waveguides were embedded on printed circuit boards using commercial polymers. The optical‐PCBs varying in board structure and in optical build‐up materials were exposed to heat, moisture and ionic‐contaminants in accelerated reliability tests. The influence of stress factors on the structural integrity and functional parameters, namely the refractive index and optical transmissivity, was investigated at the key communication wavelengths.Findings – Isothermal annealing reduced the refractive index to the greatest extent. The optical‐PCB structure with an optical surface build‐up layer was observed to be more vulnerable under temperature shock when compared with the optical‐PCB with optical inner layer. The buffer layer beneath the optical build‐up was found to improve the stability of the optical waveguides significantly. The results indicated of wavelengt...

Parallel optical interconnect between surface-mounted devices on FR4 printed wiring board using embedded waveguides and passive optical alignments

Technologies to design and fabricate high-bit-rate chip-to-chip optical interconnects on printed wiring boards (PWB) are studied. The aim is to interconnect surface-mounted component packages or modules using board-embedded optical waveguides. In order to demonstrate the developed technologies, a parallel optical interconnect was integrated on a standard FR4-based PWB. It consists of 4-channel BGA-mounted transmitter and receiver modules as well as of four polymer multimode waveguides fabricated on top of the PWB using lithographic patterning. The transmitters and receivers built on low-temperature co-fired ceramic (LTCC) substrates include flip-chip mounted VCSEL or photodiode array and 4x10 Gb/s driver or receiver IC. Two microlens arrays and a surface-mounted micro-mirror enable optical coupling between the optoelectronic device and the waveguide array. The optical alignment is based on the marks and structures fabricated in both the LTCC and optical waveguide processes. The structures were optimized and studied by the use of optical tolerance analyses based on ray tracing. The characterized optical alignment tolerances are in the limits of the accuracy of the surface-mount technology.

Optical interconnect on printed wiring board

Integration of high-speed parallel optical interconnects into printed wiring boards (PWB) is studied. The aim is a hybrid optical-electrical board including both electrical wiring and embedded polymer waveguides. Robust optical coupling between the waveguide and the emitter/detector should be achieved by the use of automated pick-and-place assembly. Different coupling schemes were analyzed by combining non-sequential ray tracing with Monte-Carlo tolerance simulation of misalignments. The simulations demonstrate that, with optimized optomechanical structures and with very low loss waveguides, it is possible to achieve acceptable total path loss and yield with the accuracy of automated assembly. A technical demonstrator was designed and realized to allow testing of embedded interconnects based on three different kind of optical coupling schemes: butt-coupling, and couplings based on micro-lens arrays and on micro-ball lenses. They were implemented with PIN and flip-chip-VCSEL arrays as well as 10-Gb/s/channel electronics onto LTCC-based (low-temperature co-fired ceramic) transmitter and receiver modules, which were surface mounted on high-speed PWBs. The polymer waveguides were on separate FR-4 boards to allow testing and characterization of alignment tolerances with different waveguides. With micro-lens array transmitter, the measured tolerances (±10 μm) were dominated by the thickness of the waveguides.

Emerging From Lab to LAP: Development of Large Area Processing Technologies for Low-Cost Photonic Interconnects on PCBs

We have studied and developed technologies to embedded high-speed optical interconnects on printed circuit boards (PCB). In this paper, we show results of fabricating optical-PCBs on a production scale panels in a modern high-density interconnect-PCB (HDI-PCB) process environment. Impacts on board design and manufacturing are studied with the developed optical technology verifiers. One verifier is an optical-PCB with 3D optical routings realized with embedded waveguides, integrated i/o couplers and optical vias. Another one is a system level optical board assembly (O-PCB-A) with 10 Gb/s Tx/Rx devices on surface mounted ball grid array (BGA) modules implemented for optical link analysis. Fabricated boards are characterized of their functionality, physical characteristics and optical alignment throughout the critical optical path. Based on the results, capabilities of a modern production infrastructure to fabricate optical-PCBs and board assemblies are discussed. Focus in the analysis is on manufacturability and on factors affecting functionality, performance and yield

Electro-optical line cards with multimode polymer waveguides for chip-to-chip interconnects

In this paper, we report developments of electro-optical PCBs (EO-PCB) with low-loss (<0.05dB/cm) polymer waveguides. Our results shows successful fabrication of complex waveguide structures part of hybrid EO-PCBs utilizing production scale process on standard board panels. Test patterns include 90° bends of varying radii (40mm – 2mm), waveguide crossing with varied crossing angles (90°-20°), cascaded bends with varying radii, splitters and tapered waveguides. Full ranges of geometric configurations are required to meet practical optical routing functions and layouts. Moreover, we report results obtained to realize structures to integrate optical connectors with waveguides. Experimental results are shown for MT in-plane and 90° out-of-plane optical connectors realized with coupling loss < 2dB and < 2.5 dB, respectively. These connectors are crucial to realize efficient light coupling from/to TX/RX chip-to-waveguide and within waveguide-to-fiber connections in practical optical PCBs. Furthermore, we show results for fabricating electrical interconnect structures e.g. tracing layers, vias, plated vias top/bottom and through optical layers. Process compatibility with accepted practices and production scale up for high volumes are key concerns to meet the yield target and cost efficiency. Results include waveguide characterization, transmission loss, misalignment tolerance, and effect of lamination. Critical link metrics are reported.