Silicon Photonics Interposer with Embedded Optical Components
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current silicon photonics packages face challenges in manufacturing at the wafer level with easy attachment of optical fiber arrays, leading to limitations in scalability and performance for high-bandwidth applications in data centers.
Innovation Solution
A silicon photonics package design featuring an interposer with embedded optical components, through silicon vias, and a layered structure allowing direct attachment of an optical fiber array, along with semiconductor chips for electronic processing, enabling efficient optical signal transmission and reception.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If optical components are embedded in an interposer with through silicon vias and layered structure, then manufacturing scalability and bandwidth performance are improved, but device complexity and manufacturing process difficulty increase
Solution Approach 1:
The package is divided into multiple functional layers including interposer, first semiconductor chip, second semiconductor chip, and redistribution layers. Each layer performs a specific function and can be manufactured and tested independently before final assembly, enabling wafer-level manufacturing and improving scalability while managing complexity through modular design
Solution Approach 2:
Multiple components are nested within the interposer structure: optical components are embedded in the interposer, through silicon vias penetrate through the interposer to connect different layers, and semiconductor chips are mounted on both sides of the interposer. This nested configuration enables high-density integration and efficient signal routing while maintaining a compact form factor
2Speed
If optical fiber array is directly attached to the exposure area of the interposer, then optical signal transmission efficiency is improved, but alignment precision and attachment difficulty increase
Solution Approach 1:
The interposer is manufactured with pre-defined exposure areas that have precise geometric features and positioning structures built-in during the semiconductor fabrication process. These pre-prepared areas serve as accurate reference points for subsequent optical fiber array attachment, ensuring high alignment precision without requiring complex real-time adjustment mechanisms
Solution Approach 2:
The exposure area of the interposer acts as an intermediary structure between the optical components embedded in the interposer and the external optical fiber array. This intermediary provides a stable, precisely positioned interface that facilitates efficient optical coupling while simplifying the attachment process through standardized geometric features
Data Source
AI summary
Disclosed is a silicon photonics package including an interposer including embedded optical components; a light source element optically connected to the optical components; a first semiconductor chip on a top surface of the interposer; a first redistribution layer on a bottom surface of the interposer; a second semiconductor chip on the first redistribution layer; a second redistribution layer on the first redistribution layer and being electrically connected to the first redistribution layer; conductive metal posts provided between the first and second redistribution layers; a mold material filling a space between the first and second redistribution layers; and a solder bump array on a bottom surface of the second redistribution layer. The top surface of the interposer includes an exposure area to which an optical fiber array is directly attached, in which an optical signal is directly transmitted between the optical components and the optical fiber array through the exposure area.