Fiber ribbon alignment structures based on rhombus-shaped channels in silicon

A fiber ribbon alignment structure based on bulk silicon micromachining technique with precise rhombus-shaped channels in {100}-silicon is demonstrated. The main advantages are totally buried and thereby protected fibers and a less structured wafer surface suitable for the integration of components on top. The presented structure allows a simplified assembly of fiber ribbon arrays due to integrated funnels for fiber insertion. The accuracy of the channels within an array was found to be /spl plusmn/0.2 μm. Furthermore, this technique allows combining fiber ribbons with a pitch of 250 μm with photodiodes for system monitoring in a single fiber pigtail.