592 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON COMPONENTS, PACKAGING AND MANUFACTURING TECHNOLOGY, VOL. 3, NO.
4, APRIL 2013
Low-Cost PCB-Integrated 10-Gb/s Optical
Transceiver Built With a Novel Integration Method
Nikolaos Bamiedakis, Aeffendi Hashim, Student Member, IEEE, Joseph Beals IV,
Richard V. Penty, Senior Member, IEEE, and Ian H. White, Fellow, IEEE
Abstract— A novel integration method for the production of
cost-effective optoelectronic printed circuit boards (OE PCBs) is
presented. The proposed integration method allows fabrication
of OE PCBs with manufacturing processes common to the
electronics industry while enabling direct attachment of electronic
components onto the board with solder reflow processes as well
as board assembly with automated pick-and-place tools. The
OE PCB design is based on the use of polymer multimode
waveguides, end-fired optical coupling schemes, and simple
electro-optic connectors, eliminating the need for additional
optical components in the optical layer, such as micro-mirrors
and micro-lenses. A proof-of-concept low-cost optical transceiver
produced with the proposed integration method is presented. This
transceiver is fabricated on a low-cost FR4 substrate, comprises
a polymer Y-splitter together with the electronic circuitry of the
transmitter and receiver modules and achieves error-free 10-Gb/s
bidirectional data transmission. Theoretical studies on the optical
coupling efficiencies and alignment tolerances achieved with
the employed end-fired coupling schemes are presented while
experimental results on the optical transmission characteristics,
frequency response, and data transmission performance of the
integrated optical links are reported. The demonstrated optoelec-
tronic unit can be used as a front-end optical network unit in
short-reach datacommunication links.
Index Terms— Integrated optoelectronics, optical interconnec-
tions, optical waveguides, photonic integrated circuits.
I. I NTRODUCTION
NCREASING demand for large interconnection bandwidth
I in datacommunication systems and supercomputing appli-
cations in recent years has led to the consideration of the
use of optical interconnects in board-level communications
[1]–[4]. Various approaches have been proposed for the
formation of on-board optical links, including free-space
optics [5]–[7], optical fibers embedded in board substrates
[8]–[10], and polymer waveguides [11]–[14]. Polymer mul-
timode waveguides constitute a promising candidate for use
in board-level optical links as they can be readily integrated
onto standard printed circuit boards (PCBs) and offer the
Manuscript received November 10, 2011; revised October 15, 2012;
accepted January 13, 2013. Date of publication February 18, 2013; date
of current version March 28, 2013. This work was supported in part by
Dow Corning Corporation and the U.K. EPSRC under CIKC Project PIES.
Recommended for publication by Associate Editor A. Cangellaris upon
evaluation of reviewers’ comments.
The authors are with the Electrical Engineering Division, Engineer-
ing Department, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB3 0FA, U.K.
(e-mail: nb301@cam.ac.uk; ahh26@cam.ac.uk; josephbeals@gmail.com;
rvp11@cam.ac.uk; ihw3@cam.ac.uk).
Color versions of one or more of the figures in this paper are available
online at http://ieeexplore.ieee.org.
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/TCPMT.2013.2242961
2156-3950/$31.00 © 2013 IEEE
relaxed alignment tolerances needed to ensure low complexity
and maintain a sufficiently low cost in the board assembly
and packaging. Nevertheless, the cost-effective board-level
integration of photonic components onto low-cost PCBs con-
stitutes a significant challenge. The development of suitable
manufacturing methods of optoelectronic (OE) PCBs and
respective integration methods are essential to allow their
efficient deployment in real-world systems.
To present, considerable research has been carried out in
the integration of polymer waveguides onto PCBs and has
led to the proposal of novel integration methods and dif-
ferent system architectures. Various demonstrators have been
reported using various optical materials, and differing in the
OE board design and the packaging and assembly processes
they utilize. A key parameter in both the overall system design
as well as the selected OE PCB manufacturing method is
the optical coupling scheme employed to efficiently guide the
light into and out of the optical waveguides. The majority
of the reported work utilizes out-of-plane coupling schemes
that allow the active photonic components to reside on the
board surface, thereby enabling simplified board assembly
and electrical connection between the OE devices and their
respective electronic driving circuitry. Out-of-plane coupling
schemes, however, rely on the use of beam-turning ele-
ments, such as integrated 45˚-mirrors [12], [15]–[17], optical
rods [18]–[21], or bent fiber structures [22], which require
additional fabrication steps for their formation. Moreover,
the metallization of the micro-mirror surfaces and the use
of micro-lenses so as to obtain high coupling efficiencies
[23], [24], impose additional fabrication, alignment, and
assembly steps in the manufacturing process of such OE PCBs.
As a result, complexity and cost issues become impediments
to the adoption of such architectures in real-world systems.
End-fired optical schemes are intrinsically simpler as
the need for beam-turning elements is eliminated. How-
ever, this approach requires embedding the active compo-
nents in proximity to the optical waveguide facets and
efficiently routing the high-speed electrical signals from
the board surface to the active OE devices. Demon-
strated OE PCBs that uitlize such end-fired coupling
schemes include optical interconnects based on pin-
assisted (MT-ferrules) assemblies and flexible substrates
[25]–[28]. Such schemes offer important advantages with
respect to alignment accuracy and electrical signal integrity
but also have inherent disadvantages. For example, pin-based
assemblies only enjoy space-efficiency when used at the board
edge (due to the pin length) and are not readily compatible
BAMIEDAKIS et al.: LOW-COST PCB-INTEGRATED 10-Gb/s OPTICAL TRANSCEIVER
with automated assembly tools. Alternatively, the use of flex-
ible substrates (flex-cables) increases the number of electrical
interfaces and imposes additional layout limitations (e.g.,
minimum bending radii).
The work reported here presents a board-level integra-
tion method that differentiates itself from previous work
by allowing the production of OE PCBs with conventional
manufacturing processes of the PCB industry and by reducing
the associated assembly complexity and manufacturing costs.
Specifically, the work in this paper aims to: 1) minimize the
fabrication steps required for the formation of the optical
layer; 2) allow compatibility with pick-and-place assembly
processes that are widely used in the electronics industry;
3) eliminate layout restrictions by permitting optical–
electronic interfaces anywhere on the board; and 4) mini-
mize the number of different electrical substrates required
for optical interconnection. As a result, the board design is
based on low-cost substrates (FR4), utilizes end-fired optical
coupling schemes and simple electro-optic (EO) connectors
to interface the electrical and optical layers of the board
while enabling assembly with pick-and-place technologies.
The optical waveguides are directly patterned on plain FR4
substrates while the active OE components (laser diodes
and photodiodes) are mounted onto appropriately designed
connectors that are fitted into through-board slots enabling
end-fired light coupling. The proposed integration concept
constitutes a simple and attractive method to produce low-
cost OE PCBs while achieving a high-speed performance in
excess of 10 Gb/s per on-board optical link. A proof-of-
principle demonstrator is built using the reported board design
and integration method, consisting of a PCB-integrated optical
transceiver providing 10-Gb/s optical communication in both
the uplink and downlink directions.
This transceiver is the first OE system produced with
conventional fabrication methods, directly integrating polymer
wave guides with electronic circuitry on low-cost substrates
without deploying beam-turning or lens elements in the opti-
cal layer. The demonstrated low-cost opto-electronic system
can be deployed as a front-end optical network unit (ONU)
in short-reach data communication links. Such links based
on multimode fiber (MMF) installed in buildings and large
complexes (airports, malls) have attracted particular interest
in recent years owing to novel techniques to enhance their
bandwidth performance, namely, offset launch techniques [29],
[30], sub-carrier [31], and wavelength multiplexing [32], [33].
The PCB-integrated optical transceiver reported here has
the potential to match the application requirements while
the use of the optical Y-splitter enables duplex transmis-
sion over a single fiber minimizing fiber and installation
costs.
The remainder of this paper is structured as follows.
Section II introduces the OE board design, fabrication, and
assembly while Section III describes the optical transceiver
design and its fabrication details. Section IV presents basic
theoretical and experimental studies on the optical and elec-
trical performance of the optical transceiver as well as link
characterisation studies for both the transmitter and receiver
modules of the unit. Section V provides a brief outlook on the
593
electronic components I/O signal SMA
connectors
through-board connector slots I/O signal SMA
for optical coupling connectors
ground vias
electrical
layer
power plane optical waveguides
substrate (FR4)
embedded in optical layer
ground plane
optical
polymer layers
layer
Fig. 1. Illustration of the OE PCB design with main features noted.
future of board-level interconnection systems building on the
proposed integration method, while Section VI concludes this
paper.
II. OE PCB D ESIGN , FABRICATION , AND A SSEMBLY
The OE PCB design makes use of both sides of the board
and can be applied to both single-layered and multilayered
substrates. The design concept locates the electronic circuitry
and optical waveguides on opposite board surfaces. The top
surface accommodates all electronic components while the
optical waveguides lay on the board underside (Fig. 1). The
interface between the optical waveguides and electronic cir-
cuitry is achieved with simple electro-optic (EO) connectors
that accommodate the active OE components (laser diodes and
photodiodes). These connectors are fitted into through-board
slots appropriately positioning the active devices directly in
front of the exposed waveguide facets and allowing therefore
end-fired light coupling into and out of the waveguides.
The process flow for the manufacturing of the OE PCB
is depicted in Fig. 2 and includes the following steps:
1) production of the electrical trace layout on low-cost board
substrates; 2) formation of the optical layer on the board
underside; 3) attachment of the electronic components on
the board; and 4) production of the through-board slots.
In contrast to other reported integration methods where the
optical waveguides are fabricated as a separate layer and later
laminated on the board substrate [24], [34], in this work, the
optical waveguides are directly patterned on the bottom surface
of the board before the mounting of the electronic components.
The electrical layouts are produced on the substrates with con-
ventional PCB manufacturing methods and include alignment
marks on their underside to enable the alignment of the optical
and electrical layers. A uniform solder mask is used on the bot-
tom board surface on which the optical waveguides are formed
in order to planarize the surface, cover any electrical vias, and
minimize the thermal and mechanical stresses induced on the
overlaying polymer layers during subsequent PCB processing
(solder reflow, through-board slot production). The polymer
materials are directly deposited on the bottom solder mask
and can be patterned with a wide range of patterning tech-
niques suitable for large-scale manufacturing, such as stamp-
ing and printing. Finally, through-board slots are produced
using a computer numerical control (CNC) milling machine
in order to expose the waveguide facets and enable optical
coupling.
In order to interface the optical and electrical layers of the
OE PCB, novel EO connectors are used. These connectors
594 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON COMPONENTS, PACKAGING AND MANUFACTURING TECHNOLOGY, VOL. 3, NO. 4, APRIL 2013

upper solder mask electronic through-board connector

component active
die bonding
plated-through via ground track signal track plated-through via upper solder components
w pad
mask active
ground plane l
ground device
FR4 FR4 plane
copper
(a) bottom solder mask
tracks
FR4 FR4 bottom cladding s
waveguide core h y
bottom solder mask top cladding light I/O x

signal
active alignment vias z t
upper solder mask component reference planes

plated-through via ground track signal track (a) (b) (c)

ground plane
Fig. 3. (a) Cross section of an OE PCB with a fitted EO connector.
(b) and (c) Schematic diagrams of the EO connector with main features noted.
FR4 FR4
bottom solder mask TABLE I
(b) bottom cladding FABRICATION AND A SSEMBLY T OLERANCES OF P ROPOSED I NTEGRATION
waveguide core
M ETHOD BASED ON EO C ONNECTORS
top cladding

electronic component upper solder mask Parameter Process Tolerance

plated-through via ground track signal track Horizontal (X-axis)
ground plane
Die positioning Die bonding techniques ± 1 µm
Connector mounting Pick-and-place assembly ± 10 µm
FR4 FR4 Total: ± 11 µm
bottom solder mask
Vertical (Y-axis)
(c) bottom cladding
waveguide core Die positioning Die bonding techniques ± 1 µm
top cladding Polymer layer Coating techniques: spin ± 1 µm
thickness (core and top coating/doctor blading
electronic component upper solder mask cladding)
plated-through via ground track signal track
ground plane
Connector shoulder Connector shoulder formation: ± 10 µm
postion injection molding/laser
(dimension s, Fig.3c) cutting/micro-machining
FR4 FR4 Total: ± 12 µm
bottom solder mask Longitudinal (Z-axis)
(d) bottom cladding
waveguide core Connector thickness Connector shoulder formation: ± 10 µm
top cladding (dimension t, Fig.3c) injection molding/laser-
cutting/micro-machining
through-board slot
Connector mounting Pick-and-place assembly ± 10 µm
Fig. 2. Schematic of the OE PCB cross-section during the manufacturing Total: ± 20 µm
process flow: (a) production of the electrical layout, (b) formation of the opti-
cal layer on the board underside, (c) attachment of the electrical components
on the board top surface and (d) production of the through-board slots.
the formation of the polymer layers on the PCB. Lateral
alignment is achieved by means of alignment marks (i.e.,
are appropriately designed to be directly inserted in the alignment crosses) that are formed on the polymer layers and
through-board slots to enable end-fired optical coupling. The can be recognized by the assembly tools. Table I indicates
connectors accommodate the active optical components, accu- the tolerances that can be achieved in the alignment of the
rately positioning them directly opposite the waveguide facets active devices with the waveguides for the different processes
while electrically connecting them to the on-board electronic involved in the fabrication and assembly of the OE PCBs.
circuits. A schematic of the connector design with its main The large waveguide dimensions typically used for board-
features noted is shown in Fig. 3. The connectors’ shape and level interconnects allow assembly with alignment accuracies
size allow mounting with pick-and-place tools and facilitate (≥ ±10µm [35]) well within the capabilities of conventional
vertical and angular alignment due to the two interior planes pick-and-place machines. Theoretical studies on the coupling
that serve as reference planes mating directly with the sur- efficiencies obtained from end-fired coupling schemes utilizing
face of the board in one plane and the slot sidewall in the VCSEL and PD chips and polymer waveguides are presented
perpendicular plane. Moreover, the vertical position of the in the following section. The connectors are precision micro-
active devices is independent of the substrate thickness as this machined and carry appropriately positioned electrical pads
can significantly vary between different samples, especially for mounting the laser diode and photodiode chips, copper
in the case of low-cost substrates, such as FR4. Instead, traces to route the electrical signals from the board surface
it depends on the position of the connector shoulder with to the active devices and electrical vias to enable electrical
respect to the dies’ location and the thickness of the core connection to the board from the back of the connector. The
and top cladding layers. Both these parameters can be accu- connectors are laterally aligned with the waveguides, pressed
rately controlled with conventional manufacturing techniques against the board surface and the slot sidewall and fixed to
for the production of the EO connector, such as injection the board using common adhesives. Electrical connection can
molding or laser cutting, and various coating processes for be achieved by means of solder paste, conductive ink, or
BAMIEDAKIS et al.: LOW-COST PCB-INTEGRATED 10-Gb/s OPTICAL TRANSCEIVER
I/O data SMA
Voltage
regulators
Tx Rx
module module
LD PD
OE PCB Y-splitter
(a) (b)
(c)
Fig. 4. (a) Schematic diagram of the optical transceiver unit. Photographs
of (b) milled Y-splitter output facet and (c) actual unit with inset picture of
output waveguide facet illuminated by the integrated VCSEL source.
conductive epoxy. An illustration of the OE PCB cross section
with a mounted EO connector is shown in Fig. 3.
III. O PTICAL T RANSCEIVER
A proof-of-principle demonstrator consisting of a PCB-
integrated optical transceiver is built with the integration
method described above. The optical transceiver incorporates
onto a low-cost single-layered FR4 substrate the transmit-
ter and receiver electronic circuitry together with a poly-
mer Y-splitter/combiner and provides bi-directional 10-Gb/s
optical transmission. High-speed 850-nm multimode VCSEL
and GaAs photodiode chips are mounted onto EO connectors,
which are fitted in through-board slots and aligned with the
two branches of the Y-splitter. An illustration of the optical
transceiver and a photograph of the demonstrator are shown
in Fig. 4.
For the production of the OE PCB, standard 1-mm-thick
double-sided FR4 substrates and polymer siloxane materials
developed by Dow Corning (OE-4140 and OE-4141) are
employed. The polymer materials possess the thermal and
mechanical properties essential for withstanding the high-
temperature environments in excess of 250 ˚C required for
soldering while exhibiting very low propagation losses in
the range of 0.03–0.05 dB/cm at the datacommunications
wavelength of 850 nm [36]. The materials are deposited
on the bottom board surface with spin coating techniques
and patterned with standard photolithographic processes. The
fabricated waveguides have a cross section of approximately
50 × 50 µm2 [Fig. 4(b)] and a step index difference !n
between the core and cladding materials of approximately 0.02
at 850 nm in order to match standard 50/125 µm MMF.
595
LD PD
connector connector
TIA
electrical
(a) pad
vias
LD PD
pad optical pad
alignment
pads
5.7 mm
4.2 mm
(b)
board
connection
3 mm
pads 7 mm
(c) (d)
(e) (f)
Fig. 5. Layouts of the (a) front view, (b) back view of the OE connectors
with features noted. (c)–(f) Photographs of realized electro-optic connectors.
(c) PD connector of Rx module with PD and TIA chips. (d) VCSEL connector.
(e) Mounted EO connectors for demonstrator. (f) Side-view of the VCSEL-
waveguide interface after mounting the VCSEL connector.
The electrical layer of the optical transceiver is produced
on an FR4 substrate with a PCB prototyping machine (LPKF
Protomat C60) and comprises the laser and photodiode driving
circuits, edge SMA connectors to provide the input and
output data signals and a voltage regulator to supply stable
voltage supply and protect the circuits from over-voltage
damage. The employed electronic components include low-
cost commercially-available laser driver and transimpedance
amplifier (TIA) chips (Texas Instruments ONET8501V and
ONET8511T respectively) and standard surface-mount com-
ponents. All electronic components are mounted on the
OE PCB using direct soldering and solder reflow processes
(210 °C). All through-board slots are 800-µm wide and
are produced with the same PCB prototyping machine and
compatible router tools (tool: 0.8 mm carbide contour router,
spindle speed: 50.000 rpm, feed rate: 3 mm/sec).
The L-shaped EO connectors are produced from low-cost
1.6-mm-thick FR4 substrates and micro-machined using the
PCB prototyping machine. The connectors carry appropriately-
positioned pads for the attachment of the active devices
and plated-through vias to route the signal to the back of
the connector [board connection pads in Fig. 5(a) and (b)].
Additional vias are employed to allow optical measurements
prior to attachment to the board [optical alignment pads in
Fig. 5(a) and (b)]. The connector for the receiver module
accommodates both the TIA and photodiode (PD) chips so
as to reduce the connection parasitics and improve high-speed
performance. The size of the VCSEL and PD connectors is
3 × 4.2 × 1.6 mm3 and 7 × 5.2 × 1.6 mm3, respectively
596 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON COMPONENTS, PACKAGING AND MANUFACTURING TECHNOLOGY, VOL. 3, NO. 4, APRIL 2013

[dimensions in l × h × w format in accordance with Fig. 3(b)].

The active devices as well as the TIA die are mounted onto
the EO connectors using a die bonding machine and are
electrically connected to the copper tracks using a wire bonder
and 25 µm in diameter gold wires. Attachment of the EO
connectors to the board is carried out with a customized pick-
and-place assembly tool and secured with Araldite two-part
epoxy while electrical connection is achieved with the use of
conductive paste. Photographs of the realized EO connectors
with mounted VCSEL, PD and TIA chips are shown in Fig. 5. (a) (b)

Fig. 6. Geometry used for the estimation of the (a) input and output coupling
IV. P ERFORMANCE S TUDIES efficiency and (b) measured far-field profile of the VCSEL output beam.
The performance of the electronic circuits and the electro-
TABLE II
optic connectors are investigated as well as the optical trans-
1-dB I NPUT AND O UTPUT C OUPLING L OSS P OINTS OF E MPLOYED
mission characteristics of both the uplink and downlink. The
E ND -F IRED O PTICAL C OUPLING S CHEMES
studies presented in detail below include theoretical estimation
of the input and output optical coupling efficiency, measure-
Input (VCSEL-WG) Output (WG-PD)
ment of the optical losses of each Y-splitter arm, measurement
1-dB Coupling Points
of the frequency response of the on-board links, and 10-Gb/s dgap dgap
data transmission experiments on both the Tx and Rx modules 50 µm 100 µm 50 µm 100 µm
of the optical transceiver. X-axis !x (µm) +20.2 +15.5
±18.9 ±15.2
!y = 0 µm, R −20.0 −14.9
A. Coupling Efficiency = T = 0°
Theoretical studies on the input and output coupling effi- Y-axis !y (µm) +21.0 +17.2
ciency obtained from the deployed end-fired coupling scheme ±18.9 ±15.2
and optical waveguides under consideration are carried out and !x = 0 µm, R −20.4 −15.6
= T = 0°
the respective alignment tolerances are assessed. The simula- Rotation R (°) +7.6° +7.6°
tions are based on ray tracing as the large waveguide cross ±19.6° ±8.4°
section in relation to the light wavelength allows effective !x = !y = 0 µm, −8.0° −8.0°
modeling with geometric optics [37]. The model assumes T = 0˚
ideal waveguide facets, takes into account the waveguide Tilt T (°) +8.5° +8.5°
parameters (dimensions and refractive index profile) and the ±19.6° ±8.4°
!x = !y = 0 µm, −7.5° −7.5°
active devices’ characteristics (far-field profile of VCSEL R = 0˚
output beam, PD aperture size), and computes the input and Z-axis !z (µm)
output coupling losses as a function of the relative position of 143 µm 125 µm
the active device (lateral and longitudinal offsets and angular !x = !y = 0 µm,
misalignments) with respect to the waveguide facet [Fig. 6(a)]. R = T = 0°
For the simulations, the waveguide, VCSEL and PD para-
meters are appropriately chosen to match the characteristics
of the fabricated waveguides and the OE chips used in the and angular misalignments (rotation and tilt) within ± 5˚ of
production of the optical transceiver. Therefore, the waveguide the waveguide axis. Half power (−3 dB) transverse alignment
is assumed to have a 50 × 50 µm2 cross section and refractive tolerances are on the order of the waveguide half width
indices of 1.52 and 1.5 at 850 nm for the core and cladding (±25 µm for a 50 × 50 µm2 waveguide) while losses due to
materials, respectively. The PD aperture is considered to be longitudinal offset scale more slowly; an increase of 1 dB in
75 µm in diameter (Cosemi LX3044) while the ray power coupling loss is obtained per 50 µm of additional gap width for
distribution assumed at the waveguide input matches the actual gaps larger than 100 µm. Output coupling efficiency appears
measured output beam profile [Fig. 6(b)] of the employed to be less sensitive to waveguide-PD misalignments owing
VCSEL chips (ULM Photonics ULM850-10-TT-N0101E). For to the larger diameter of the photodiode. Output coupling
the estimation of the output coupling efficiency, a uniform ray losses below 0.5 dB can be achieved for the 75-µm wide
power distribution is assumed at the waveguide output as this photodiode as long as transverse offsets !x and !y are kept
provides the upper bound (worst-case) in the expected output below ± 15 µm, gap widths dgap smaller than 50 µm are
coupling loss. used and rotation and tilt angles R, T are within ±14˚ of
The simulation results provide an estimation of the required the ideal photodiode waveguide angular alignment. Table II
accuracy in the alignment of the active components during the presents the 1-dB coupling loss points for both the input and
assembly of the OE board. Input coupling losses (excluding output coupling scheme for each direction when assuming
Fresnel losses) are found to be below 1 dB for lateral offsets ideal alignment in all other directions and a waveguide-active
!x and !y within ± 10 µm, longitudinal gaps below 100 µm, device gap of 50 and 100 µm.
BAMIEDAKIS et al.: LOW-COST PCB-INTEGRATED 10-Gb/s OPTICAL TRANSCEIVER 597

B. Optical Power Measurements

Insertion loss measurements are carried out on the

optical transceiver to assess the coupling efficiency and
alignment tolerances of the deployed coupling scheme.
The optical power transmission characteristics of each arm of
the Y-splitter are measured for varying positions of the Tx and
Rx connectors prior to their attachment onto the board. For the
transmitter (VCSEL) arm, the light at the Y-splitter output is (a) (b)
collected with a 10× microscope objective (NA 0.25) while
for the receiver (PD) arm, a fiber-coupled (50/125 µm MMF)
VCSEL source is employed to launch the light into the main
Y-splitter arm. The optical power incident on the photodiode
chip is measured with an electrical signal output of the
TIA chip, which is directly proportional to the photocurrent
generated by the photodiode. The optical power emitted from
both VCSEL sources (connector-mounted VCSEL and fiber-
coupled VCSEL) are also measured for different bias currents
in order to permit the calculation of the total insertion losses. (c)
Additional insertion losses induced by lateral and longitudinal Fig. 7. Normalized received optical power at input/output of the Y-splitter
offsets from the position of maximum power transmission are for (a) and (b) transverse (X- and Y -) offsets of the (a) VCSEL source,
also measured and shown in Fig. 7. (b) photodiode, and (c) longitudinal (Z -) offsets of the active devices.
The total insertion losses of the Tx and Rx arms of the
Normalised electrical power (dBe)..

Y-splitter include input and output coupling losses, waveguide 10 without EO connector
propagation losses and Y-splitter/combiner excess losses and 0
are found to be 5.9 and 5.5 dB, respectively, for a 6-mA
-10
bias current. Slightly increased insertion loss values for the
Tx arm are obtained for higher VCSEL bias currents due to -20
with EO connector
the resulting increased divergence of the VCSEL output beam. -30
The contribution of the various loss components is estimated with EO connector
-40
based on optical transmission studies carried out on similar without EO connector
devices [38]. As a result, the input coupling losses for the -50
0 2 4 6 8 10 12
VCSEL arm and the output coupling losses for the PD arm
Frequency (GHz)
are calculated to be 2.8 and 1 dB, respectively. The obtained
(a) (b)
values are significantly larger than the theoretically estimated
values due to the quality of the waveguide facets produced by Fig. 8. (a) Frequency response of Tx module. (b) Corresponding eye
the milling process and which has not been taken into account diagrams at a 10 Gb/s data rate with and without the use of the EO connector
in the simulations. (50 mV/div, 20 ps/div).
The transverse alignment tolerances for the −1-dB power
points for the Tx (VCSEL–coupled) arm are found to be
± 8 µm for the horizontal (X-) axis and ±15 µm for C. RF Performance
the vertical (Y -) axis. The difference in the values obtained The frequency response of both the Tx and Rx modules
for the two transverse axes is due to the bent waveguide is measured and the effect of the EO connectors on the RF
structure of the Y-splitter. Lateral VCSEL offsets couple more performance of the electrical circuits is investigated. Although
optical power into higher order modes that suffer from higher the length of the copper tracks on the connectors is kept as
bending losses as they propagate along the Y-splitter arm. short as possible to minimize the degradation of the high-
Thus lateral offsets induce increased bend losses and reduce speed electrical signals, the non-matched transmission lines
alignment tolerances. Longitudinal alignment is less significant on the connectors and the electrical vias inevitably affect the
than transverse alignment: a 1-dB additional loss is induced overall RF performance of the link. To assess the induced
at a 70-µm gap. For the Rx arm, alignment tolerances are effect, test PCBs which do not deploy the EO connectors are
significantly larger than those obtained from the Tx arm owing produced from similar FR4 substrates. The electrical circuits
to the larger dimension of the photodiode aperture. Transverse built on the test boards are identical to the Tx and Rx
−1-dB points are found to be at ±20 µm for both axes modules of the optical transceiver while the OE components
while longitudinal offsets up to 120-µm result in additional (VCSEL and PD chips) are directly mounted onto the board
losses below 1 dB. Overall, the obtained alignment tolerances surface. The frequency response of the links comprising the
from the fabricated waveguides are in good agreement with Tx module of the optical transceiver with and without the
the theoretically estimated values and within the range of the use of the VCSEL connector and a fiber-coupled 9-GHz
capabilities of pick-and-place assembly tools. photodiode (Picometrix PT-12B) are measured with an Agilent
598 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON COMPONENTS, PACKAGING AND MANUFACTURING TECHNOLOGY, VOL. 3, NO. 4, APRIL 2013

10 without EO connector
Normalised electrical power (dBe)

-10

-20
with EO connector (a)
-30 (c)
with EO connector
-40
without EO connector
-50
0 2 4 6 8 10 12
Frequency (GHz)
(b)
(a) (b)
(d)
Fig. 9. (a) Frequency response of Rx module. (b) Corresponding eye
diagrams at a 10 Gb/s data rate with and without the use of the EO connector
(50 mV/div, 20 ps/div).
Fig. 10. Experimental configurations for data transmission studies on each
transceiver module (a) Tx and (b) Rx. Respective recorded eye diagrams at
10 Gb/s for the (c) Tx module (20 mV/div, 20 ps/div) and (d) Rx module
network analyzer (Fig. 8). Similar measurements are carried (50 mV/div, 20 ps/div).
out for the Rx module of the optical transceiver with and
without the PD connector and a fiber-coupled 10-Gb/s Avalon OE PCB
beam
PD High-speed receiver
VCSEL source (Fig. 9). The eye diagrams of the received 10- 50 Ω Rx Y-splitter splitter VOA
62.5 µm MMF
Gb/s electrical signals are also recorded for similar levels of module
10x 10x Oscilloscope

received optical power and are shown in the inset graphs. Tx

module VCSEL
Although the use of the EO connectors induces a slight

10x
degradation in the RF performance of the link, the obtained 50 fl
bias Tee

bandwidth for both the Tx and Rx modules is sufficient for 50 µm MMF 50 µm MMF

the transmission of 10-Gb/s data signals. VCSEL

data data
Pattern
D. Data Transmission generator clock

The data transmission characteristics of the optical trans-

ceiver are investigated. Initially, the performance of each
module (Tx and Rx) is studied independently with the other
module terminated using 50 " resistors. The link configu-
rations used in the data experiments are shown in Fig. 10.
A 10-Gb/s 850-nm Avalon multimode VCSEL source and a
9- GHz fiber-coupled receiver (Picometrix PT-12B) are
employed for the characterisation of the Tx and Rx modules,
respectively. A short 10-Gb/s 27 -1 pseudo-random binary
sequence (PRBS) data pattern is used to directly modulate
the VCSEL sources. The short pattern length is chosen so
as to emulate the short coding schemes typically employed
in data communication links. Light is coupled into and out of
the polymer Y-splitter via a pair of 10× microscope objectives
while a free-space variable optical attenuator (VOA) is used to
carry out BER measurements. The quality of the transmitted
data signals is assessed with a digital communication analyzer
(HP 83480A) and a BER test set (Anritsu MP 1763C). For
both Tx and Rx modules, open eye diagrams [Fig. 10(c)
and (d)] are obtained while error-free (BER < 10−12) data
transmission is confirmed with the BER test set.
Furthermore, a beam splitter is inserted in the opti-
cal path allowing the simultaneous observation of the
transmitted (Tx) and received (Rx) data signals when
both modules of the optical transceiver are operating
(Fig. 11). Fig 12(a) and (b) shows the recorded eye diagrams
for each module of the optical transceiver when the other
module is transmitting/receiving data and when it is idle. Some
additional noise can be observed in the obtained eye diagrams
Fig. 11. Experimental configuration for the simultaneous observation of both
the Tx and Rx modules of the optical transceiver.
due to the operation of the complementary module and can be
attributed to electrical and optical crosstalk. Optimization of
the RF design of the EO connectors is expected to minimize
such issues. BER measurements confirm error-free operation
(BER < 10−12 ) for both modules and indicate a 0.5-dB power
penalty for a 10−9 BER for the Tx module [Fig. 12(c)]. No
power penalty is observed in the operation of the Rx module.
V. O UTLOOK
The proposed integration method provides an attractive
approach to the cost-effective formation of OE PCBs using
fabrication methods common to the electronics industry (sol-
der reflow, micro-machining, and pick-and-place assembly).
However, next generation high-performance electronic sys-
tems, such as supercomputers, data storage systems, and
servers, will require high aggregate interconnection capacities
and therefore large numbers of board-level optical links.
Networks of on-board polymer waveguides coupled to VCSEL
and PD arrays will be needed to provide the required high
aggregate data interconnection capacity. Such solutions may
also include more than one optical layer integrated on the
board (multilayered OE PCBs). As a result, the formation
of these more sophisticated OE PCBs would require further
optimization of the demonstrated subsystems and assembly
BAMIEDAKIS et al.: LOW-COST PCB-INTEGRATED 10-Gb/s OPTICAL TRANSCEIVER
(a)
(b)
(c)
Fig. 12. Data transmission studies for both the Tx and Rx modules
of the optical transceiver when the other module is either idle or trans-
mitting/receiving data: (a) and (b) recorded eye diagrams at 10 Gb/s for
(a) Tx (20 mV/div, 20 ps/div), (b) Rx (50 mV/div, 20 ps/div) module and
(c) Respective BER measurements.
processes. In particular, the RF design related to the EO
connectors will need to be able to accommodate the large num-
ber of high-speed electrical links required to drive the active
devices, and the production of the through-board slots will
need to be optimized to ensure high quality waveguide facets
over large areas. Moreover, the use of 2-D LD and PD arrays
would impose tighter tilt and rotation placement tolerances for
the EO connectors, as small angular deviations could lead to
large transverse offsets over large alignment areas. With these
issues in mind, initial work on the formation of parallel on-
board links has been carried out leading to the demonstration
of a multichannel optical interconnection architecture [39] and
the formation of an optical backplane employing 1×4 VCSEL
and PD arrays mounted on appropriate EO connectors [40].
VI. C ONCLUSION
This paper presented a simple and attractive integration
method for producing low-cost OE PCBs. The proposed
method made use of conventional manufacturing processes of
PCBs, allowed direct attachment of the electronic components
onto the OE boards with solder reflow processes, and enabled
board assembly with pick-and-place tools, thereby achieving
cost-effectiveness and minimizing the required fabrications
steps. Moreover, end-fired optical coupling schemes were
utilized to reduce the system complexity and eliminate the
599
need for the beam-turning elements in the optical transmission
layer. The 1-dB alignment tolerances of such optical coupling
schemes were theoretically and experimentally shown to be
on the order of ±10 µm, well within the capabilities of
commercial pick-and-place machines.
A low-cost PCB-integrated high-speed optical transceiver
produced with this novel integration method was demonstrated
for the first time. This proof-of-concept optical transceiver
unit incorporates a polymer optical Y-splitter along with all
required electronic circuitry on a single-layered FR4 sub-
strate and produced using conventional processes of PCB
manufacturing. The transceiver exhibits acceptably low optical
insertion losses of 5.9 and 5.5 dB for the Tx and Rx arms,
respectively, and was shown to support error-free 10-Gb/s
data transmission for both the uplink and downlink directions.
Minimal optical power penalties, smaller than 0.5 dB, due
to simultaneous operation of the Tx and Rx modules were
demonstrated. This OE unit has promising potential as a
prototype for a deployable low-cost front-end optical ONU
in short-reach datacommunication links.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
The authors acknowledge Dow Corning Corporation for
the provision of the polymer materials and the Electronics
Development Workshop at the University of Cambridge for
the production of the PCBs.
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