An 8-Gb/s optical backplane bus based on microchannel interconnects: design, fabrication, and performance measurements

• Published in: Journal of lightwave technology Vol. 18; no. 11; pp. 1477 - 1486
• Main Authors: Kim, G., Xuliang Han, Chen, R.T.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York, NY IEEE 01.11.2000; Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers; The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. (IEEE)
• Subjects: Applied sciences; Arrays; Backplanes; Beams (radiation); Buses (vehicles); Circuit properties; Data transfer (computers); Electric, optical and optoelectronic circuits; Electronics; Exact sciences and technology; High speed optical techniques; Holograms; Holography; Microchannel; Miscellaneous; Multiplexing; Optical and optoelectronic circuits; Optical arrays; Optical beams; Optical interconnections; Optical polymers; Optical transmitters; Stimulated emission; Vertical cavity surface emitting lasers; Vertical cavity laser; Bit error rate; Performance characteristic; Surface emitting laser; Holographic grating; Microlens arrays; System design; Optical bus; Optical interconnection; Signal to noise ratio
• ISSN: 0733-8724; 1558-2213
• DOI: 10.1109/50.896207

We describe the characteristics of a microchannel-based optical backplane including signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), interconnect distances, and data transfer rates. The backplane employs 250 /spl mu/m-spacing two-dimensional (2-D) vertical cavity surface emitting lasers (VCSELs) and a microlens array to implement 500 /spl mu/m-, 750 /spl mu/m-, and 1-mm optical beam arrays. By integrating the transmitter and a multiplexed polymeric hologram as a deflector/beam-splitter for the guided-wave optical backplane, the result demonstrates a multibus line architecture and its high-speed characteristics. Maximum interconnect distances of 6 cm and 14 cm can be achieved to satisfy 10/sup -12/ bit error rate (BER) using 2/spl times/2 beams of 500 /spl mu/m- and 1 mm-spacing array devices. The total data transfer rate of the developed backplane has shown 8 Gb/s from eye diagram measurements.