A micromachined connector for the coupling of optical waveguides and ribbon optical fibers

This paper describes in details the fabrication and tests of a micromechani cal connector, which is used for the precise optical self-alignment of mult i-waveguide optical integrated circuits (OIC) to ribbon optical fibers, wit hout injecting light in the fiber. Nickel alignment pins are electrodeposit ed on the OIC using a photolithographic process, and these pins are inserte d into suitable openings made on a silicon micromachined platform, on which optical fibers are accurately positioned using V-grooves. A simultaneous f abrication of several microstructures which are used as an assistance for t he assembly of the fibers and the waveguides is presented for the first tim e. Design and fabrication issues are reported, as well as preliminary exper imental results which show that excess optical losses on the order of 3 dB per coupling facet can be obtained. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All righ ts reserved.