Passive Alignment Optical Subassemblies for Military/Aerospace Fiber-Optic Transmitter/Receiver Applications

Under the DARPA sponsored Avionics Optoelectronic Module Technology program, Boeing, Lucent Technologies and Ceramics Process Systems have collaboratively developed new passive alignment carrier (PAC) optical subassemblies (LED-PAC and PIN-PAC) ruggedized for military/aerospace avionics fiber-optic transmitter and receiver applications. LED-PAC and PIN-PAC silicon micro-optical bench substrates were lubricated together on a 5 inch diameter silicon wafer via multi-stage photolithography, thin-film, and substrate processing. Alignment v-grooves designed for passive optical alignment of 100/140 micron multimode optical fiber to the optoelectronic devices were terminated by solder locking the fiber to the silicon PAC substrates. The LED-PAC comprising a surface emitting LED die-bonded onto a novel precision molded AIN submount passively mounted onto the silicon microbench achieves the required high coupling efficiency to 100/140 micron multimode optical fiber to meet stringent avionics transmitter output power requirements.