Electrical Packaging Impact on Source Components in Optical Interconnects

A simulation study of source module components for use within optical interconnect systems is described. SPICE models of laser diodes, CMOS drivers, and electrical packages are developed and exercised to evaluate overall source module performance. Performance metrics for power dissipation, signal latency, wavelength chirp, and signal fidelity are used, The effects of laser diode threshold current, bias condition, and driving current level are determined with respect to these metrics. The influence of driver type and electrical packaging technologies on source module performance is also evaluated. Transmission line models of printed wiring board (PWB), tape automated bonding (TAB), and flip-chip bonding (C4) are used to study package related effects. It is found that under appropriate operating conditions, PWB can achieve acceptable noise, power, and latency performance for data rates up to 500 MHz while flip-chip bonding is required to exceed data rates of 800 MHz for the cases studied.