The past few years a lot of effort has been put in the development and fabrication of III-V semiconductor waveguiding devices with monolithic integrated mode size converters (tapers), By integrating a taper with a waveguide device, the coupling losses and the packaging cost of OEIC's in future fiber-optical networks can be much reduced, This paper gives an overview of different taper designs, the possible fabrication technologies and performances of tapered devices

We report on a hybrid coupling concept which allows high-density integration of top illuminated photodetector arrays with planar polymeric waveguide circuits by means of a micromachined submount with an integrated mirror. The etching of a complementary alignment structure in the polymeric layer stack allows passive assembly. The fabrication process of the submount structure is described, focusing on the optimization of the mirroring facet surface quality in order to reduce the effect of topographic scattering. A prototype 8-channel detector module integrated with a straight polymeric waveguide array exhibited an average coupling efficiency of -6.1 dB and a cross-talk value of -21.3 dB between adjacent channels at 1300 nm.

We report on a hybrid integration concept which allows high-density and alignment-tolerant surface mount assembly of top-illuminated photodetector (PD) arrays onto polymeric guided-wave components by means of a micromachined submount with an integrated mirror. This research aims at the development of polymeric waveguide based devices with an embedded optical power monitoring capability for applications in optical fiber communication networks. A prototype integrated multichannel optical power monitor comprising an eight-channel PD module and a polymeric waveguide splitter array was demonstrated which exhibited an average insertion loss of 5.2 dB, a PD coupling efficiency of 02.6 dB, and a crosstalk value of 017.1 dB between adjacent channels. Low polarization and wavelength sensitivity ( < 0.1 dB) was confirmed over a spectral range of 40 nm in both telecom wavelength windows. Index Terms-Hybrid integration, network monitoring and management, optical fiber communication, polymeric waveguide components, silicon micromachining.

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