Board-level optical-to-electrical signal distribution at 10 gb/s

An opto/electrical prototype for on-board optical-to-electrical signal broadcasting operating at 10 Gb/s per channel over an interconnect distance of 10 cm is demonstrated. An improved 1times4 multimode interference (MMI) splitter at 1550 nm with linearly tapered output facet is heterogeneously integrated with four p-i-n photodetectors (PDs) on a silicon (Si) bench. The Si bench itself is hybrid integrated onto an FR-4 printed-circuit board with four receiver channels. A novel fabrication/integration approach demonstrates the simultaneous alignment between the four waveguides and the four PDs during the MMI fabrication process. The entire system is fully functional at 10 Gb/s