Abstract
The digitization of smart catheters will dramatically increase the demand for reliable and high data transmission in the distal tips. Optical fiber is a good candidate to provide high-speed data transmission. However, the extremely small scale of the smart catheter tip, with less than a few millimeters in diameter, hampers the integration of optical fiber connections in the catheter tip. Our work presents a stand-alone optical data link module (ODLM) with a dimension of 240 m 280 m 420 m for use in a 1 mm diameter intravascular ultrasound (IVUS) smart catheter. The fabrication of the ODLM is based on the Flex-to-Rigid (F2R) integration technology. In the ODLM, the flexible interconnects reroute the electrical contacts of the flip-chipped vertical-cavity sur-face-emitting laser (VCSEL) to the side of the device. This design enables the ODLM to be mounted on a flex-PCB and fit into a 200-300 m gap in the IVUS catheter tip. An optical fiber that runs parallel to the catheter shaft is self-aligned to a commercially available VCSEL by inserting it into the through-silicon hole (TSH) of the ODLM. Clear eye diagrams prove the stand-alone ODLM can transmit 25.8 Gb/s, 2<sup>31</sup>-1 Pseudo-Random Binary Sequence (PRBS) when driven through a high-speed bias-tee. The BER test indicates that error-free operation can be achieved at an optical output of around -4 dBm.
Original language | English |
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Article number | 9662251 |
Pages (from-to) | 2456-2464 |
Number of pages | 9 |
Journal | Journal of Lightwave Technology |
Volume | 40 |
Issue number | 8 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 15 Apr 2022 |
Keywords
- Catheters
- Contacts
- Flex-to-Rigid
- Microassembly
- Microfabrication
- Optical device fabrication
- Optical fibers
- Optical interconnections
- Optical transmitters
- Silicon
- Smart catheters
- Vertical cavity surface emitting lasers
- smart catheters
- optical transmitters
- optical interconnections
- microfabrication
- microassembly
- Flex-to-rigid