MONOLITHIC INTEGRATION OF DIFFRACTIVE LENSES WITH LED-ARRAYS FOR BOARD-TO-BOARD FREE-SPACE OPTICAL INTERCONNECT

Since optical interconnections can severely reduce problems associated with electrical interconnect technology (including bandwidth Limitati ons, electromagnetic cross talk, signal delay and EMI aspects), the de velopment of suitable electrooptic components is of crucial importance for implementation of optical interconnects in future computer system s. This paper addresses the design, modeling, fabrication as well as e xperimental assessment of LED-arrays, with diffractive lenses etched i nto the rear side of the LED-substrate, The suitability of such optica l sources far board-to-board optical interconnections will be demonstr ated.