These teachings relate generally to compact alignment tolerant optical interconnects, and, more particularly to small footprint and ruggedly packaged optoelectronic devices.
In the optical interconnect system or optical data pipe approach of U.S. Pat. No. 7,015,454, mating emitter and detector arrays are pre-aligned and fixed on or near the ends of a gradient index rod imager, and this flexible pre-aligned structure is then mounted to the host. Using this technology hundreds or thousands of high bandwidth channels can be interconnected for short distances (intra-die, between neighboring chips or MCMS) or over relatively long distances (full board wrap-around, board-to-board, computer to peripheral, computer to computer, etc.). The optical interconnect system of U.S. Pat. No. 7,015,454 provides a nearly lossless one-to-one optical interconnection from a set of input channels to a set of output channels, and supports extreme density, low power, and low crosstalk for high bandwidth signals.
The system of U.S. Pat. No. 7,015,454 can be pre-aligned and fixed during manufacture (e.g., using automated alignment and cementing procedures) to produce optical interconnects that have relaxed alignment tolerances and are thus readily usable in the field by non-optical personnel. The interconnection systems of U.S. Pat. No. 7,015,454 are tolerant of handling, bending and displacements among interconnected components without losing their function of interconnecting many closely packed (dense) optical channels. However, the utility of interconnection systems of U.S. Pat. No. 7,015,454 would be increased if the interconnection systems could be provided in a low footprint package.
Compact ASIC, chip-on-board, flip-chip, interposer, and related packaging techniques are incorporated to minimize the footprint of optoelectronic interconnect devices, including the Optical Data Pipe. In addition, ruggedized packaging techniques are incorporated to increase the durability and application space for optoelectronic interconnect devices, including the Optical Data Pipe.
For a better understanding of the present teachings, together with other and further objects, reference is made to the following description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, and its scope will be pointed out in the appended claims.
A desirable Optical Data Pipe (ODP) low footprint package is the low footprint chip-on-board ODP. Low footprint packaged devices such as these are important for optoelectronic device applications such as the Optical Data Pipe technology of U.S. Pat. No. 7,015,454, which is incorporated by reference herein its entirety, because novel packaging is required to deliver the tiny footprint potential of such technologies. The optical data pipe technology is described further in detail in U.S. Pat. No. 7,015,454 and related cases.
In this embodiment, the transceiver die are bonded (e.g., using solder bump-bonding techniques) directly to the circuit board. (Transceiver die as used herein refers to an optoelectronic die including emitter dies, detector dies, receiver dies and emitter/detector/receiver dies.) The infinite conjugate imagers may then be aligned and affixed directly to the board also, eliminating the increase in ODP footprint that is often caused by carriers or submounts. This Chip-On-Board embodiment is illustrated schematically in
Because of the importance of this high performance Chip-On-Board (COB) ODP packaging technique and its tiny footprint potential, it was explored experimentally. An unpopulated circuit board designed for COB ODP packaging is illustrated in
A magnified view of this die bonding area is illustrated in
A photomicrograph of the VCSEL die bonded to the board in this COB packaging technique is given in
A pair of more detailed photomicrographs of this on-board die is given in
In the COB ODP packaging technique, after the die are bonded to the board as shown above, the infinite conjugate imager (rod lens in this case) is aligned and affixed to the board. A photomicrograph of this step is shown in
These ODP modules can be intermittently placed across circuit boards as dataflow dictates and each is implemented with very low board footprints (much lower than conventional connectors).
A Board-To-Board Optical Data Pipe (BB-ODP) feasibility demonstrator was built to demonstrate the low footprint devices. The first step in the feasibility demonstrator fabrication was the fabrication of BB-ODP modules. A custom carrier substrate had to be fabricated to facilitate handling and alignment of the optical element devices. Initially, placement and die location inside the Small Outline Integrated Circuit (SOIC) carriers was of great concern. To assist in this matter a grid of lines was to be laser engraved into the carrier substrate's metallization. These lines then could be used as reference edges by the assembly operator for die placement.
A circuit was designed on a ceramic thick-film substrate that would also serve as the VCSEL/PIN die carrier. Built into the design were elements to assist an assembly operator in an ideal die placement. This path has additional benefits as well. These include a low profile with respect to the populated circuit board (PCB), and now the ability to pre-pot the lens onto the die as a subassembly. This should increase WRI's working yield of BB-ODP modules before attach to the PCB.
A thick-film ceramic process was chosen for this purpose with the goal of maintaining a low profile of the die/lens assembly to the PCB.
The first 4 channel ODP prototypes fabricated and tested are shown in
The next step toward the demonstration of the BB-ODP feasibility at 125 MHz in the SIMD application was design and fabrication of the printed circuit boards. A first level prototype of transmit and receive circuits for the printed circuit boards to be used in a demonstration of the BB-ODP concept was completed. Of interest were low power operation of a VCSEL at 125 MHz data rate and the operation of a detector and amplifier also working at 125 MHz.
A first level prototype assembly of the electronic circuits is shown in
Surface mount components were used to minimize high frequency parasitics. The high data rate, 125 MHz, provides a significant challenge in the detector amplifier and PCB layout criteria. A number of prototype revisions were needed since parasitic issues are solved in part by trial and error.
The BB-ODP transmit and receive printed circuit boards were populated with corresponding BB-ODP modules. A photograph of the pair of populated circuit boards is illustrated in
These circuit boards were then mounted face-to-face, and the feasibility experiment was performed.
One of the packaging embodiments includes the use of submounts to hold the die. These submounts are then mounted to the circuit boards. An advantage of this embodiment is that the die can be readily tested and replaced prior to mounting the die on the board. This embodiment is illustrated in
A 24 Channel Board-To-Board Link was designed and demonstrated. In addition to the multi-channel nature, flip-chip packaging techniques were developed and are discussed later. Separate transmit and receive modules were designed for the link. The transmit side utilized a flip-chip VCSEL array. This is a 5×5 Cartesian array of 850 nm VCSELs. The receive side of the link was fabricated from a custom designed, integrated detector/amplifier driver integrated circuit, also in a 5×5 Cartesian array.
A close-up view of a Flip-Chip Carrier on a PCB is shown in
The transmit PCB is shown in
The close-up view of a wirebonded ASIC receiver Chip on its sub-carrier PCB is shown in
One idealized assembly form shown in
Another embodiment, using an additional ASIC die for drive, receive, amplification, and thresholding etc. functions as necessary, is illustrated in
These idealized assembly forms are however dependent upon the availability of the constituent components that are functional in a flip-chip mounted environment. An interim assembly strategy is to build modules with a more traditional chip and wire approach as outlined in
Practical aspects of the BB-ODP development were investigated including an initial look at the shock tolerance of the ODP modules. While these experiments are not formal quantitative testing, they demonstrated the initial ruggedness of the embodiments. As an initial step a sample unit was built and a series of drop tests were applied to generate shock pulses to the system. The potted lens assembly allows for active alignment of the lens with respect to the electro-optic components. The purpose of this rudimentary drop test is to ferret out any obvious structural weaknesses.
The concept of the shock sample is illustrated in
In the next step a 4 channel VCSEL array die is attached to the PCB metal circuit pattern via a silver filled, conductive epoxy which is then cured. Following die attachment, electrical interconnects from die contact pads to the PCB circuit trace pads are made using ultrasonic wirebonding with 1 mil (.001″) gold wire.
The lens attachment was accomplished by holding the lens in an aligned position as the area between the die and the lens surface was flooded with a UV curing, optical grade epoxy. Additional epoxy material was allowed to form a meniscus at the lower end of the lens rod. The assembly was then exposed to strong UV light source for a cure interval.
Two of the resulting ODP accelerating test boards are shown in
Although the invention has been described with respect to various embodiments, it should be realized these teachings is also capable of a wide variety of further and other embodiments within the spirit and scope of the appended claims.
This application is a continuation of co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 17/020,358, filed Sep. 14, 2020, entitled LOW FOOTPRINT OPTICAL INTERCONNECTS, which is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 15/972,823, filed May 7, 2018, entitled LOW FOOTPRINT OPTICAL INTERCONNECTS , now U.S. Pat. No. 10,775,572, which is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/851,052, filed Sep. 11, 2015, entitled LOW FOOTPRINT OPTICAL INTERCONNECTS, which is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/465,603, filed May 7, 2012, entitled LOW FOOTPRINT OPTICAL INTERCONNECTS, now U.S. Pat. No. 9,137,889, which in turn is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/477,046, filed Jun. 2, 2009, now U.S. Pat. No. 8,171,625, which in turn claims priority to and benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 61/057,996, filed Jun. 2, 2008, all of which are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety for all purposes.
This invention was made with U.S. Government support from the U.S. Air Force under contract #F30602-03-C-0213 and from the U.S. Air Force under contract #FA8750-04-C-0250. The U.S. Government has certain rights in the invention.
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Number | Date | Country | |
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61057996 | Jun 2008 | US |
Number | Date | Country | |
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Parent | 17020358 | Sep 2020 | US |
Child | 17516583 | US | |
Parent | 15972823 | May 2018 | US |
Child | 17020358 | US | |
Parent | 14851052 | Sep 2015 | US |
Child | 15972823 | US | |
Parent | 13465603 | May 2012 | US |
Child | 14851052 | US | |
Parent | 12477046 | Jun 2009 | US |
Child | 13465603 | US |