The area requirements for routing and distributing guided-wave optical signals using gradual waveguide curves and branches will severely restrict the utilization of optical interconnects in future multichip IC packages. This paper addresses the use of total internal reflection in abrupt guided-wave optical components for realizing high-density optical interconnect circuits that eliminate this area constraint. We have measured excess insertion losses of 0.2-0.5 dB at 830 nm for 90° waveguide corner bends, branches, and crossovers for both E^y and E^x polarizations in 5-micron- and 10-micron-wide multimode channels. These loss figures are expected to provide sufficient optical power margins for all point-to-point interconnects in a targeted high-speed multichip VLSI/GaAs package for signal processing applications.

Date Published: 1 January 1987
PDF: 8 pages
Proc. SPIE 0836, Optoelectronic Materials, Devices, Packaging, and Interconnects, (1 January 1987); doi: 10.1117/12.967550

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 0836:
Optoelectronic Materials, Devices, Packaging, and Interconnects
Theodore E. Batchman; Richard Franklin Carson; Robert L. Galawa; Henry J. Wojtunik, Editor(s)