Multichannel optical modules compatible with the fiber-in-board technology

Fiber-in-board technology offers a full solution for high-speed parallel interconnections. Packaging techniques compatible with this board technology have been realized. Two different solutions are presented for the fiber alignment in the module. The first technique is based on a silicon board bench with etched V-grooves and thermo compression flip-chip bonding. The second technique is based on a vacuum pick-up tool, capable of handling 16 multimode fibers. A dedicated alignment piece has been developed for interfacing the fibers towards the optical contact in the board. For the realization of electrical interconnections inside the module, three different substrate technologies are evaluated. First, prototypes were elaborated in a thin-film technology. For the electrical interface of the silicon motherboard a standard thick-film technology was used. A novel thick-film technology based on the FODEL/sup TM/ material, which offers high density interconnection capabilities, was used for the development of an alternative packaging technique. The different modules were tested and integrated in a system demonstrator. Four parallel on-board optical links were operational at 311 Mb/s. The speed was limited by the receiver electronics, which were designed for operation at 155 Mb/s.