Backplane Optical Interconnection Technology Using Silicon-On-Sapphire Circuitry and BGA Packaging

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 isradiation 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 andnuclear 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. Commercialcandidates 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 thestandard 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 andtest. 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 orstandard 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 projectcreates 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 militaryenvironments.