SBIR-STTR Award

The overall objective of the project is to develop a technology for providing optical interconnections to high performance ICs that scale to greater than 1 Tbps aggregate bandwidth and fit within the IC industry cost structure. This technology is radiation hard and well suited for military applications. The objective of Phase I is to understand the system level requirements for this technology from end-users. Likely first insertion opportunities are high-end military applications for processing large data fields, such as in synthetic aperture radar and nuclear event synthesis. Commercial opportunities are in large computer routers systems and high performance distributed computing systems. Candidates for military partners are Lockheed Martin Corporation, Northrup-Grumman, and Boeing. Commercial candidates include Sun Microsystems and Cisco. The second objective of Phase I is proof of concept through design and analysis. The key issues are the mechanical integrity, thermal performance and optical interface of the PhotonicBGA without sacrificing any electrical/thermal performance of the standard BGApackage. The component must also be cost-effective for successful implementation. This project develops technology that creates board-level optical interconnects in a manner consistent with semiconductor industry manufacturing, assembly and test. We present a method for inserting pre-tested optoelectronic components within a standard BGA package to create 1 Tbps I/O bandwidth to the IC. The optoelectronic components interface to optical links formed in a PCB optical waveguide-layer or standard parallel fiber connectors. The optical links are chip-to-chip within a PCB and also between PCBs across a backplane. This technology offers a significant power consumption reduction when compared to current electrical I/O trends. This project creates a PhotonicBGA package that does not alter the physical envelope of a standard BGA package and does not sacrifice thermal or power delivery to the IC. The technology used in PhotonicBGA is proven radiation hard and well suited for military environments

The phase I program identified an immediate DOD need for FOCUTSpak technology in military avionics. Therefore, the goal of this program is to create prototype parallel modules suitable for applications such as the JSF, UAV and F16 programs. This prototype program will be driven by the requirements and specifications supplied by LMTS, the current manufacturer of parallel optical modules and system integrator for the JSF program. LMTS will provide guidance throughout this program. A second goal is to develop FOCUTSpak technology as a photonic platform to meet future DOD and commercial needs, such as in digital phase array radar and optical I/O to advanced ICs. The prototype development will provide a foundation that proves out FOCUTSpak technology for further applications. Namely (1.) Direct Monitoring of VCSEL channels, (2.) Detection of VCSEL Aging, (3.) Elimination of VCSEL Temperate Characterization During Production Test & (4.)Scaling Data Rate

Keywords:
Photonics, Vcsel, Soi, Sos, Fiber-Optic