A small form-factor and low-cost opto-electronic package for short-reach 40 Gbit/s serial speed optical data links

For the first time we present a small form-factor, low-cost package that is suitable for transmitter optical subassemblies (TOSAs) and receiver optical subassemblies (ROSAs) with serial speeds up to 40 Gbit/s. The TOSA includes a very high speed vertical cavity surface emitting laser (VCSEL) and a driver integrated circuit (IC) inside the package and the ROSA combines a high speed photodiode (PD) with a transimpedance amplifier (TIA) IC. The overall housing concept is based on a TO-can (Transistor Outline) packaging technology in order to realize a hermetically-sealed, high volume and low cost prototype product solution. The radial dimensions of the TOSA/ROSA package are selected to fit easily within standard optical transceiver form-factors for example SFP and QSFP (quad small form-factor pluggable).