Who are the current leaders in optoelectronic (OE) device packaging? And what companies might overtake them? Certainly, there's nothing clear-cut here. There are numerous emerging/enabling OE technologies with the inevitable combining of photonics (opto), MEMS, MOEMS and electronics throughout the food chain. Foggier yet are the capabilities of manufacturing equipment and materials suppliers to meet the challenges. There are no quick answers, and this crucial OE manufacturing/packaging shakeout will take years to resolve. But make no mistake, it is underway now! One major obstacle in packaging stand-alone OE devices (or OE with any combination of ICs, MEMS and MOEMS), is the lack of device and device/module packaging standards. There are telecom industry standards for optical transmission protocols once the lightwaves are in the fiber, but for opto/ opto interconnects or photon-electron/ electron-photon conversion, packages they are anything but standard. Skeptical? Just ask any company that has been asked to produce a drop-in replacement package, and you'll get an earful. The Leaders If you assume volume alone as a criteria for leading the OE packaging industry, then Honeywell [honeywell.com] and JDS Uniphase [us.jdsu.com] are certainly significant names. Honeywell seems to have been first with much-needed volume VCSEL (vertical cavity surface emitting laser) arrays in BGA packages. Uniphase, meanwhile, boasts a much broader product portfolio throughout the fiberoptic transmission infrastructure and remains a leader despite its current market problems.
The overall photonics "market" is attempting to resolve major bandwidth non-availability issues around the country. Pick your major telecom (voice-centric) or datacom (data-centric) provider-AT&T, Nortel Networks or Quest, for example. Each has made serious mistakes. Telecom/datacom companies have spent huge amounts of time and barrels of money on long-haul fiber. And somehow they've failed to construct the last-mile of vital, affordable links to offices, factories and homes. That last mile is a revenue generator, and overlooking it is a near-lethal oversight. I'm convinced that two-way technology transfer between electronics and photonics interests will be the much-needed catalysts that finally enables affordable fiber wherever you want it or need it. If it doesn't, the U.S. and other industrialized countries will lose their supremacy in electronics-centric business and industry. Moreover, the promise of broadband web surfing, video on demand and many other intriguing services will be as hollow as the optic fiber itself. We need electronics manufacturing engineering to help show the physicist-dominated opto companies how to ramp up production and lower the #@%$ costs! The $1,000 fiber modems for the office or home computer will neither speed adoption of the fiber technology nor accelerate convergence. Packaging Innovations Expect to see more interesting OE packaging innovations from a host of companies, including alphabetically, Agilent, Alcatel, Agere Systems, Fujitsu, IBM, Infineon Technologies, Intel, Motorola, NTT Electronics, Oki Semiconductor, Philips Semiconductors, Samsung Elec-tronics, Seiko, Sumitomo, and Vitesse Semiconductor. All of the above dug strong roots in the silicon semiconductor fabrication and packaging. And watch Analog Devices, Emcore and others with extensive compound semiconductor expertise to leverage their existing OE packaging expertise and push for de facto standards. Other OE-focused companies include Cielo Communications, LightConnect, Peregrine Semiconductor, PicoLight, Qusion Technologies and WaveSplitter Technologies. Don't overlook the contract manufacturers (CMs), either, or the IC packaging foundries. Additionally, don't forget the board/ system-level CMs that are already active but reluctant to discuss details. And the list goes on, if we add the cell phone folks who are using MEMS-switched RF or opto in their products. Those wireless companies realize that there are many similarities with RF and opto packaging, since they share spectrum. Finally, the growth of OE promises to be a shot-in-the-arm for the microelectronics industry. This column and additional CSR articles will offer higher-volume, lower-cost IC manufacturing tips and philosophies from microelectronics manufacturing to the photonics and telecom/ datacom industries. We are addressing disruptive technologies. We are looking at new ways to enable better communications and computing plus myriad other exciting applications. Hang on! You ain't seen nothing yet!
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