Fabrication of low-cost panel sized optical-printed circuit boards

Integration of optical interconnects into printed circuit boards are seen as a promising solution to overcome challenges encountered with high frequency electrical interconnects. In this paper, we show some of the results obtained with development of high-speed 10-Gb/s parallel optical interconnects embedded on printed circuit boards. Multimode polymer waveguides are fabricated with commercially available optical materials. Low-cost volume processes are evaluated and utilized for optical-PCB fabrication. Different optical passive components are characterized for point-to-point and point-to-multipoint connections. Additionally, different optical I/O-coupling schemes in the waveguide-emitter/detector device interface are presented and evaluated in terms of cost and complexity. Some critical issues in optoelectronic device assembly and board fabrication are addressed