Chip-Level Optical Interconnects Using Polymer Waveguide Integrated With Laser/PD on Silicon

In this letter, we demonstrate a chip-level high-speed optical interconnect, where the optical transmitter/receiver, the polymer waveguides, and the silicon-trench 45° microreflectors are integrated on a single silicon platform. The silicon platform with a silicon trench can provide independent photonic and electrical layers, respectively, for high-speed and low-speed (except high-frequency transmission lines) data transmissions. In order to demonstrate the technical capability of chip-level optical interconnects, the vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser (VCSEL)/photodetector (PD) and the driver/amplifier IC as well as the polymer waveguides combined with the 45° microreflectors are integrated on the electrical and photonic layers of the silicon platform, respectively. The total optical transmission (VCSEL-to-waveguide-to-PD via two 45° microreflectors) is -4.7 dB. The high-speed transmission experiment shows the clear eye opening up to 20-Gbit/s data rate. The bit error rate better than 10^-12 for the proposed architecture is also successfully demonstrated. It reveals such chip-level optical interconnects based on the proposed silicon platform with the polymer waveguides is suitable for high-speed data transmission.