Detachable 1x8 single mode optical interface for DWDM microring silicon photonic transceivers

We are developing a 1x8 single mode (SM) optical interface to facilitate the adoption of dense wavelength division multiplexing (DWDM) silicon photonic (SiPh) optical interconnects in exascale computing systems. A common method for fiber attachment to SiPh transceivers is ‘pigtailing’- the permanent adhesive bonding of fiber/v-groove arrays to onchip grating couplers (GC). This approach precludes standard high throughput surface mounting and solder reflow assembly of the transceiver onto system printed circuit boards. Our approach replaces the fixed pigtail with a low profile, small form factor, detachable expanded beam optical connector which consists of four essential parts: a GC array, a surface mount glass microlens array chip, an injection molded solder reflowable optical socket, and an injection molded SM light turn ferrule. The optical socket and ferrule are supplied by US Conec Ltd. To design the GC, we developed an optical simulator that considers CMOS foundry constraints in the optimization process. On-wafer measurements of the GC coupling loss to SMF28 fiber at 1310nm is ~1.4dB with a 1dB bandwidth of ~22nm. This ensures a wide low loss spectral window for at least 16 DWDM channels. The geometry of the optical system is arranged so that only a simple spherical lens is required for efficient mode matching in the expanded beam space. The fiber to fiber insertion loss through the light turn ferrule, two microlenses and GCs, and a looped back SOI waveguide ranged from 4.1-6.3dB, with insertion loss repeatability of 0.2dB after multiple mating cycles.