Optical Connection with Optical Pins and Self-Written Waveguides for Board-Level Optical Wirings

Abstract

The potential of circuit packaging technology is discussed. Special attention is paid to introduction of optical at the printed wiring board level (i.e., in the last 1 meter area) to overcome the bandwidth limitations of electrical copper-based wiring. The suitability of surface mount technology (O-SMT) as a possible solution is reviewed. It is shown that the key to the utility of O-SMT is high efficiency and alignment-free coupling between wiring and devices. O-SMT requires a method to change the beam direction from the horizontal to the vertical and vice versa in order to couple wiring in an OE-board and OE-devices mounted on the board. A novel method using an optical pin is proposed and investigated. Furthermore, an coupling method using a self-written waveguide called optical solder is reviewed. Several applications of self-written waveguides using a green laser and a photo-mask are demonstrated.