Chip-scale optoelectronic transceiver with microspringed interposer

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11054593-B1
Application number	US-202016815932-A
Country	US
Kind code	B1
Filing date	Mar 11, 2020
Priority date	Mar 11, 2020
Publication date	Jul 6, 2021
Grant date	Jul 6, 2021

Abstract

A chip-scale transceiver includes an interposer having microspring electrical contacts disposed on the interposer substrate. At least one electronic chip and at least one optoelectronic chip are electrically coupled to the interposer through the microsprings. The electronic chip includes at least one of an amplifier array and a laser driver array. First electrical contact pads arranged to make electrical contact with the first microsprings of the interposer. The optoelectronic chip includes at least one of a laser array and a photodetector array. Second electrical contact pads arranged to make electrical contact with the second microsprings of the interposer are disposed on the optoelectronic chip substrate. The transceiver has an area less than or equal to 0.17 mm 2 per Gbps.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A transceiver comprising:
an interposer comprising:
an interposer substrate; and
first and second microspring electrical contacts disposed on the interposer substrate;

at least one electronic chip comprising:
an electronic chip substrate;
electronic devices disposed in and/or on a surface of the electronic chip substrate, the electronic devices comprising at least one of an amplifier array and a laser driver array; and

first electrical contact pads disposed on the electronic chip substrate, the first electrical contact pads arranged to make electrical contact with the first microsprings of the interposer;
at least one optoelectronic chip, comprising:
an optoelectronic chip substrate;
optoelectronic devices disposed in and/or on the optoelectronic chip substrate, the optoelectronic devices comprising at least one of a laser array and a photodetector array; and

second electrical contact pads disposed on the optoelectronic chip substrate, the second electrical contact pads arranged to make electrical contact with the second microsprings of the interposer,
wherein the transceiver has an area less than or equal to 0.17 mm 2 per Gbps.

2. The transceiver of claim 1 , wherein:
the electronic chip substrate comprises a first material; and
the optoelectronic chip substrate comprises a different second material.

3. The transceiver of claim 1 , wherein the transceiver is configured to operate 24 communication lanes, each communication lane configured to operate at greater than or equal to 25 Gbps.

4. The transceiver of claim 1 , wherein the transceiver operates at less than or equal to about 10 pJ per bit.

5. The transceiver of claim 1 , wherein the transceiver operates at less than or equal to about 1 pJ per bit.

6. The transceiver of claim 1 , further comprising holes through the interposer substrate that are aligned with the optoelectronic devices, the holes configured to receive and align optical fibers such that the optical fibers are optically coupled to the optoelectronic devices.

7. The transceiver of claim 1 , wherein a volume of the transceiver is less than or equal to 10×8×5 mm 3 .

8. The transceiver of claim 1 , wherein the interposer substrate comprises silicon, glass, or FR4.

9. The transceiver of claim 1 , wherein the interposer substrate is a singulated portion of a silicon wafer.

10. The transceiver of claim 1 , wherein the optoelectronic devices comprise an array of vertical cavity surface emitting lasers (VCSELs).

11. The transceiver of claim 1 , wherein the interposer comprises contact pads arranged along at least one edge of the interposer.

12. The transceiver of claim 11 , wherein the edge contact pads have a bandwidth density of greater than 1 Tbps per cm.

13. The transceiver of claim 1 , wherein the optoelectronics module further includes microlenses disposed between at least some of the optoelectronics components and the optical fibers.

14. The transceiver of claim 1 , wherein the at least one optoelectronic chip comprises:
an optoelectronic receiver chip that includes an array of photodetectors; and
an optoelectronic transmitter chip that includes an array of VCSELs.

15. The transceiver of claim 1 , wherein the transceiver operates at less than or equal to about 1 pJ per bit.

16. The transceiver of claim 1 , wherein a volume of the transceiver is less than or equal to 10×8×5 mm 3 .

17. A communication system comprising:
a transceiver comprising:
an interposer comprising:
an interposer substrate; and
first and second microspring electrical contacts disposed on the interposer substrate;

at least one electronic chip comprising:
an electronic chip substrate;
electronic devices disposed in and/or on a surface of the electronic chip substrate, the electronic devices comprising at least one of an amplifier array and a laser driver array; and
first electrical contact pads disposed on the electronic chip substrate, the first electrical contact pads arranged to make electrical contact with the first microsprings of the interposer;

at least one optoelectronic chip, comprising:
an optoelectronic chip substrate;
optoelectronic devices disposed in and/or on the optoelectronic chip substrate, the optoelectronic devices comprising at least one of a laser array and a photodetector array; and
second electrical contact pads disposed on the optoelectronic chip substrate, the second electrical contact pads arranged to make electrical contact with the second microsprings of the interposer,

wherein the transceiver has an area less than or equal to 0.17 mm 2 per Gbps;
a network interface device configured to control operation of the transceiver; and
a mother board comprising:
a first connector configured to electrically connect to the transceiver; and
a second connector configured to electrically connect to the network interface device, the motherboard having electrical traces configured to electrically connect the network interface device to the transceiver.

18. The system of claim 17 , wherein the transceiver located less than 5 cm from the network interface device.

19. A method of making a transceiver, comprising:
forming multiple interposers on an interposer wafer, each interposer comprising first and second stress-engineered microspring electrical contacts disposed on a surface of the interposer wafer;
forming at least one electronic chip comprising:
fabricating electronic devices in and/or on a surface of an electronic chip substrate, the electronic devices comprising at least one of an amplifier array and a laser driver array; and
fabricating first electrical contact pads on the electronic chip substrate, the first electrical contact pads arranged to make electrical contact with the first microsprings of the interposer;

forming at least one optoelectronic chip, comprising:
fabricating optoelectronic devices in and/or on a surface of a optoelectronic chip substrate, the optoelectronic devices comprising at least one of a photodetector array and a laser array; and
fabricating second electrical contact pads on the electronic chip substrate, the second electrical contact pads arranged to make electrical contact with the first microsprings of the interposer, wherein the transceiver has an area less than or equal to 0.17 mm 2 per Gbps.

20. The method of claim 19 , wherein forming the at least one optoelectronic chip comprises:
fabricating an optoelectronic receiver chip comprising the array of photodetectors; and
fabricating an optoelectronic transmitter chip comprising the array of lasers.

Assignees

• Palo Alto Res Ct Inc

Inventors

• Chua Christopher L

Classifications

• H10W90/701

  characterised by the relative positions of pads or connectors relative to package parts · CPC title

• H10F55/00

  Radiation-sensitive semiconductor devices covered by groups H10F10/00, H10F19/00 or H10F30/00 being structurally associated with electric light sources and electrically or optically coupled thereto · CPC title

• G02B6/4278 Primary

  related to pluggable or demountable opto-electronic or electronic elements · CPC title

• G02B6/4204 Primary

  the coupling comprising intermediate optical elements, e.g. lenses, holograms (encapsulated active devices H01S5/02208) · CPC title

• G02B6/30

  for use between fibre and thin-film device · CPC title