OPTICAL CONNECTION TECHNIQUES AND CONFIGURATIONS

• US 20160124166A1
• Filed: 01/11/2016
• Published: 05/05/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 11/16/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Original Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Inventors: Braunisch, Henning, Liff, Shawna M., Chang, Peter L.
• Granted Patent: US 9,435,967 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 6/12 of the integrated circuit kind electric integrated circuits H01L27/00
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 6/4201 Packages, e.g. shape, construction, internal or external details
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 6/4239 Adhesive bonding; Encapsulation with polymer material
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 6/4246 Bidirectionally operating package structures
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 6/4256 Details of housings
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 6/4257 having a supporting carrier or a mounting substrate or a mounting plate G02B6/3648 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 6/4261 Packages with mounting structures to be pluggable or detachable, e.g. having latches or rails
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 6/4269 with heat sinks or radiation fins
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 6/4278 related to pluggable or demountable opto-electronic or electronic elements
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 6/4292 the light guide being disconnectable from the opto-electronic element, e.g. mutually self aligning arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 6/46 Processes or apparatus adapted for installing or repairing optical fibres or optical cables installation of cables containing electric conductors and optical fibres H02G
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 29/49128 Assembling formed circuit to base

Abstract

Embodiments of the present disclosure provide optical connection techniques and configurations. In one embodiment, an apparatus includes a receptacle for mounting on a surface of a package substrate, the receptacle having a pluggable surface to receive an optical coupler plug such that the optical coupler plug is optically aligned with one or more optical apertures of an optoelectronic assembly that is configured to emit and/or receive light using the one or more optical apertures in a direction that is substantially perpendicular to the surface of the package substrate when the optoelectronic assembly is affixed to the package substrate. Other embodiments may be described and/or claimed.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

depositing solder interconnect material to facilitate attachment of components to a surface of a package substrate;

positioning the components for attachment to the package substrate, the components including at least

an optoelectronic assembly configured to emit and/or receive optical signals in the form of light for a processor, the optoelectronic assembly having one or more optical apertures that emit and/or receive the light in a direction that is substantially perpendicular to the surface of the package substrate, and

a receptacle having a pluggable surface to receive an optical coupler plug such that an optical coupler plug is optically aligned to route the light to or from the one or more optical apertures of the optoelectronic assembly when the

optical coupler plug is plugged into the receptacle; and

reflowing the deposited solder interconnect material to form a bond between the components and the package substrate.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein depositing the solder interconnect material includes depositing solder interconnect material on the surface of the package substrate.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein positioning the components is performed using a pick-and-place process.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein reflowing the deposited solder interconnect material forms electrical interconnect structures that electrically couple the optoelectronic assembly with the package substrate and forms dummy interconnect structures that structurally couple the receptacle with the package substrate.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein positioning the components includes positioning the receptacle and the optoelectronic assembly such that they do not physically contact one another, wherein reflowing the deposited solder interconnect material results in solder self-alignment of the receptacle and optoelectronic assembly relative to the package substrate to provide optical alignment between the one or more optical apertures of the optoelectronic assembly and the optical coupler plug when the optical coupler plug is plugged into the pluggable surface of the receptacle.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein positioning the components includes positioning the optoelectronic assembly and the receptacle adjacent to a terminating edge of the package substrate, the receptacle having a U-shape and substantially surrounding the optoelectronic assembly.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the receptacle includes a material that is resistant to softening under temperature conditions associated with reflowing the deposited solder interconnect material.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the components include a processor; and

subsequent to reflowing the deposited solder interconnect material, a surface of the receptacle that is farthest in reference to the package substrate is closer to the surface of the package substrate than a surface of the processor that is farthest in reference to the package substrate.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

performing a cleaning process to clean the package substrate and the components;

depositing an underfill material to fill a region between the components and the package substrate; and

forming an integrated heat spreader that is coupled to the optoelectronic assembly and the processor to remove heat from the optoelectronic assembly and the processor when in operation.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein, subsequent to reflowing the deposited solder interconnect material, the package is a final product without having the optical coupler plug attached.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

attaching the optical coupler plug to the receptacle using pluggable features of the optical coupler plug to adhere to the pluggable surface of the receptacle.