In recent years there has been a great deal of interest in the use of optical interconnection techniques within a digital electronic circuits. The Semiconductor Industry Association has highlighted the necessity of the optical approach in "The National Technology Roadmap for Semiconductors" in 1997 (1). The availability of large space-bandwidth product, together with the potential inadequacies of copper, have usually been cited as the main advantages of optics over its electronic alternatives for interconnection applications. As more advanced and high density photonics devices in 2D format have been developed, the need for more advanced micro-optical components that allow the manipulation of light from, and interconnection between these arrays of devices in the third dimension, has grown with it.
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