Polymer optical waveguide technology for multichip modules (MCMs) and board level interconnects

摘要

We have demonstrated a complete optical data between a pair of optical transmitter (Tx) and receiver (Rx) multichip modules (MCMs) using polymer optical waveguide array as interconnect media. The Tx and Rx MCMs each has three data channels and are fabricated using conventional MCM-C technology. The components used in our MCMs include Honeywell's vertical cavity surface emitting lasers (VCSELs) at wavelength of 850 nm, and other commercial off-the-shelf Si devices such as Si detectors, laser drivers, and amplifiers. The waveguide interconnect is over 4-inch long, and includes both flexible ribbons and board integrated polymer waveguides with passively aligned connectors. The waveguides are finished with 45-degree mirrors at each end facets for interfacing with the VCSELs and the p-i-n detectors in the Tx and Rx modules, respectively. The loss of the overall optical link is less than 10 dB. We have measured a bit-error-rate of less than 10$+$MIN@12$/ at a data rate of 1 Gbps per channel.