Packaging of optoelectronic and RF components with shared elements for dual-mode wireless communications

The development of a new hybrid packaging method is reported, where the front end radio frequency (RF) element, namely a modified quasi-Yagi antenna, is integrated with an optical transmitter and an optical receiver on single PCB for dual-mode, i.e. RF/free space optical communication. The VCSEL and the pin diode are placed on the antenna directors to share the common metal pads on the Duroid (RT 6010) board. The modules have demonstrated dual-mode wireless communication capability, i.e. RF and free space optics. Though the RF channel induces noise to the optical transmitter/receiver due to electromagnetic coupling between closely-spaced RF and optical circuits, a data rate of 2.5 Gbit/s is demonstrated for the optical channel.