Fiber ribbon alignment structures based on rhombus-shaped channels in silicon

A fiber ribbon alignment structure based on bulk silicon micromachining tec hnique with precise rhombus-shaped channels in {100}-silicon is demonstrate d. The main advantages are totally buried and thereby protected fibers and a less structured wafer surface suitable for the integration of components on top. The presented structure allows a simplified assembly of fiber ribbo n arrays due to integrated funnels for fiber insertion. The accuracy of the channels within an array was found to be +/-0.2 mu m. Furthermore, this te chnique allows combining fiber ribbons with a pitch of 250 mu m with photod iodes for system monitoring in a single fiber pigtail.