Coupling concept in connection with surface preparation

The integration of optical interconnections on a printed circuit board (PCB) is challenging, as it should remain compatible with existing PCB manufacturing technology. This integration level requires compatibility with the established manufacturing and assembly processes of the conventional electrical board technology, which is based on laminated FR4-substrates and making use of well-known placement and assembly techniques. Since printed circuit boards will continue to be the most important components of electronic equipment, still the most critical problem of the integration of optical interconnections in PCB is coupling the light in and out of the optical plate. By reason of that, various principles and interconnection architectures for optical beam routing were investigated.