Massively parallel transmission over polymer optical fibre for backplane application and interconnects

The solution to satisfy the enormous demand for bandwidth in backplane applications can be POF ribbons. The authors demonstrate the possibilities of this concept, utilizing a parallel optical receiver IC (OEIC) consisting of 32 data channels with integrated photodiodes. Different types of fiber and fiber ribbons are used to evaluate the performance of the setup and measurements are conducted. Step index multimode fibers - as well as multimode waveguides - can be used. The possible bending radius can be very small for these fibers (e.g. less than 1 mm for a 0.125 mm SI-POF). The large diameter of the fibers enables very simple connectors and the possibility of passive alignment schemes. In many cases, the additional effort for the multiple transmitters and receivers will be smaller than the cost reduction by using the simple POF cable. This is true first of all, if integrated solutions can be used.