Board-level optical-to-electrical signal distribution at 10 Gb/s

An opto/electrical prototype for on-board optical-to-electrical signal broadcasting operating at 10 Gb/s per channel over an interconnect distance of 10 cm is demonstrated. An improved 1 × 4 multimode interference (MMI) splitter at 1550 nm with linearly tapered output facet is heterogeneously integrated with four p-i-n photodetectors (PDs) on a silicon (Si) bench. The Si bench itself is hybrid integrated onto an FR-4 printed-circuit board with four receiver channels. A novel fabrication/integration approach demonstrates the simultaneous alignment between the four waveguides and the four PDs during the MMI fabrication process. The entire system is fully functional at 10 Gb/s.