Polymer based optical interconnect components for high-speed Datacom approaches - Micromachining supported manufacturing

Ideally, micro-optical components can be integrated in passive optical interconnects and replicated in polymer materials for the cost reducing. Hence, the increase of data rate depends on the quality of the optical surfaces. In this paper the micromechanical manufacturing technologies of microcomponents with optical surfaces are discussed. Furthermore, polymer based components are presented which can be used for coupling and routing of optical signals, e.g. a passive optical interconnect for the passive coupling into photodiode or from VCSEL and optical N × M star couplers. The polymer based interconnect module has been realized in different polymers (polymethyl methacrylate, PMMA, and cycloolefin copolymer, COC). Total loses and data rates achieved are 3.3 dB and 2 Gbps, respectively. Average total loss an e.g., polymer based 16 × 16 optical star coupler is better than 17 dB per channel with a uniformity of 3 dB. For replication of polymer substrates of these components hot embossing tools have been produced by combination of deep lithography, ultra-precise milling and micro-machining.