Solder-reflow resistant thermoplastic for optical coupling

Kamil Gradkowski; Gabrie Hoogland; Peter M. Johnson; Jos van Gisbergen; Young-Joon Choi; Florian Jung; Alexander Hartwig; Richard Pitwon; Peter O'Brien

doi:10.1109/TCPMT.2025.3532026

Solder-reflow resistant thermoplastic for optical coupling

Kamil Gradkowski^*, Gabrie Hoogland^*, Peter M. Johnson, Jos van Gisbergen, Young-Joon Choi, Florian Jung, Alexander Hartwig, Richard Pitwon, Peter O'Brien

^*Corresponding author for this work

School of Physics and Astronomy

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract

We report a solder-reflow-compatible thermoplastic material that can be deployed in co-packaged optical assemblies with no dimensional change of the material up to 269 ºC. We fabricated a single-mode microlens array (MLA) through an injection molding process. The MLA along with an optical adhesive was subjected to several reflow cycles resulting in no change in the MLA’s critical dimensions. Finally, we constructed a noncontact, free-space pluggable fiber-to-PIC demonstrator with the MLAs, which exhibited an average 3.8 dB/coupler during 50 make-and-break cycles.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	1636-1643
Number of pages	8
Journal	IEEE Transactions on Components, Packaging and Manufacturing Technology
Volume	15
Issue number	8
Early online date	23 Jan 2025
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1109/TCPMT.2025.3532026
Publication status	Published - 1 Aug 2025

Keywords

Micro-optics
Photonic integrated circuit (PIC)
Pluggable photonic packaging
Solder-reflow compatibility
Thermoplastics

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10.1109/TCPMT.2025.3532026Licence: CC BY

Gradkowksi_2025_TCPMT_Solder-reflow-resistant-thermoplastic_CC
© 2025 The Authors. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
Final published version, 1.43 MBLicence: CC BY

Cite this

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title = "Solder-reflow resistant thermoplastic for optical coupling",

abstract = "We report a solder-reflow-compatible thermoplastic material that can be deployed in co-packaged optical assemblies with no dimensional change of the material up to 269 ºC. We fabricated a single-mode microlens array (MLA) through an injection molding process. The MLA along with an optical adhesive was subjected to several reflow cycles resulting in no change in the MLA{\textquoteright}s critical dimensions. Finally, we constructed a noncontact, free-space pluggable fiber-to-PIC demonstrator with the MLAs, which exhibited an average 3.8 dB/coupler during 50 make-and-break cycles.",

keywords = "Micro-optics, Photonic integrated circuit (PIC), Pluggable photonic packaging, Solder-reflow compatibility, Thermoplastics",

author = "Kamil Gradkowski and Gabrie Hoogland and Johnson, \{Peter M.\} and \{van Gisbergen\}, Jos and Young-Joon Choi and Florian Jung and Alexander Hartwig and Richard Pitwon and Peter O'Brien",

note = "Funding: This work was supported in part by the Taighde {\'E}ireannResearch Ireland under Grant SFI-12/RC/2276\_P2 and in part by SABIC.",

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doi = "10.1109/TCPMT.2025.3532026",

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AU - Gradkowski, Kamil

AU - Hoogland, Gabrie

AU - Johnson, Peter M.

AU - van Gisbergen, Jos

AU - Choi, Young-Joon

AU - Jung, Florian

AU - Hartwig, Alexander

AU - Pitwon, Richard

AU - O'Brien, Peter

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AB - We report a solder-reflow-compatible thermoplastic material that can be deployed in co-packaged optical assemblies with no dimensional change of the material up to 269 ºC. We fabricated a single-mode microlens array (MLA) through an injection molding process. The MLA along with an optical adhesive was subjected to several reflow cycles resulting in no change in the MLA’s critical dimensions. Finally, we constructed a noncontact, free-space pluggable fiber-to-PIC demonstrator with the MLAs, which exhibited an average 3.8 dB/coupler during 50 make-and-break cycles.

KW - Micro-optics

KW - Photonic integrated circuit (PIC)

KW - Pluggable photonic packaging

KW - Solder-reflow compatibility

KW - Thermoplastics

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JO - IEEE Transactions on Components, Packaging and Manufacturing Technology

JF - IEEE Transactions on Components, Packaging and Manufacturing Technology

IS - 8

ER -

Solder-reflow resistant thermoplastic for optical coupling

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