Abstract-This paper demonstrates a flexible optical waveguide film with integrated optoelectronic devices (vertical-cavity surfaceemitting laser (VCSEL) and p-i-n photodiode arrays) for fully embedded board-level optical interconnects. The optical waveguide circuit with 45 micromirror couplers was fabricated on a thin flexible polymeric substrate by soft molding. The 45 couplers were fabricated by cutting the waveguide with a microtome blade. The waveguide core material was SU-8 photoresist, and the cladding was cycloolefin copolymer. A thin VCSEL and p-i-n photodiode array were directly integrated on the waveguide film. Measured propagation loss of a waveguide was 0.6 dB/cm at 850 nm.Index Terms-embedded optical interconnects, 45 micromirror coupler, printed circuit board (PCB), poly(dimethylsiloxane) (PDMS), soft molding, SU-8, topas, vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser (VCSEL), waveguide film.
We report for the first time a bidirectional optical backplane bus for a high performance system containing nine multi-chip module (MCM) boards, operating at 632.8 and 1300 nm. The backplane bus reported here employs arrays of multiplexed polymer-based waveguide holograms in conjunction with a waveguiding plate, within which 16 substrate guided waves for 72 (8 x 9) cascaded fanouts, are generated. Data transfer of 1.2 GbUs at 1.3-pm wavelength is demonstrated for a single bus line with 72 cascaded fanouts. Packaging-related issues such as transceiver size and misalignment are embarked upon to provide a reliable system with a wide bandwidth coverage. Theoretical treatment to minimize intensity fluctuations among the nine modules in both directions is further presented and an optimum design rule is provided. The backplane bus demonstrated, is for general-purpose and therefore compatible with such IEEE standardized buses as VMEbus, Futurebus and FASTBUS, and can function as a backplane bus in existing computing environments. Srikanth Nabrajan received the B.E. degree in electronics and communication engineering from the University of Madras, India, in 1989, and the M.S. degree in electrical engineering from the University of Texas at Austin in 1991. He is currently working toward a doctoral degree in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering of the University of Texas at Austin. His research interests include the design and fabrication of polymerbased holographic devices for optoelectronic interconnects with emphasis on holographic backplane bus design for computing environments. Cbunhe Zhao received the B.S. degree in applied physics from the National University of Defense Technology, Changsha, P.R.C., in 1988. Currently he is a graduate student working toward his Ph.D. degree in electrical and computer engineering, the University of Texas at Austin. His research interest includes optical interconnects based on holographic gratings, optical backplane bus, and holographic neural networks. Ray T. Chen, photograph and biography not available at the time of publication.
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