Design and evaluation of the 10-Gbps electrical transmission interface board for an optical backplane

The clock frequency in digital electronic systems has exceeded the GHz range. Tera-bps signal processing has been expected in applications of high-end servers and routers. This work is motivated by the continually increasing bandwidth needs of board-to-board interconnects, which are demanding optical solutions that maximize bandwidth per unit area and minimize power consumption and cost. A high-speed signal transmission ability of over Gbps is required for a signal transmission line of even a printed wiring board (PWB). We investigated the 10-Gbps electrical signal transmission with bonding wire for optical interconnect modules. The characteristic impedance of the bonding wire was evaluated by time domain reflectometry (TDR) method. The eye diagram was measured at 10-Gbps. The optical transmitter and receiver modules were made on the evaluation board for an optical backplane. New modules named VGPAS (V-groove passive alignment structure) were designed to ease alignment. The optical transmitter and receiver modules were evaluated. We demonstrated the 10-Gbps optical signal transmission between two boards through the optical backplane we developed and indicated the applicability for the optical backplane