US-20260126600-A1 - HIGH BANDWIDTH DENSITY OPTICAL INTERFACES FOR CO-PACKAGED DEVICES INCLUDING PHOTONIC INTEGRATED CIRCUITS

Abstract

An optical interface includes a cladding layer having a plurality of inner cores and a plurality of turning elements formed therein. Each inner core the plurality of inner cores is associated with a respective turning element of the plurality of turning elements. The optical interface further includes an array of optical elements formed on the cladding layer. Each optical element of the array of optical elements is associated with a respective turning element of the plurality of turning elements.

Inventors

• Olufemi I. Dosunmu
• Robert Blum
• Zijiao YANG
• Jinxin FU

Assignees

• APPLIED MATERIALS, INC.

Dates

Publication Date

20260507

Application Date

20251219

Claims (20)

1. 1 . An optical interface comprising: a cladding layer having a plurality of inner cores of waveguides and a plurality of turning elements formed therein, wherein each inner core the plurality of inner cores is associated with a respective turning element of the plurality of turning elements; and an array of optical elements formed on the cladding layer, wherein each optical element of the array of optical elements is associated with a respective turning element of the plurality of turning elements.
2. 2 . The optical interface of claim 1 , wherein the array of optical elements comprises a microlens array.
3. 3 . The optical interface of claim 2 , wherein the microlens array comprises microlenses having diameters that range from about 100 micrometers to about 200 micrometers.
4. 4 . The optical interface of claim 1 , wherein the array of optical elements comprises a metalens array.
5. 5 . The optical interface of claim 4 , wherein the metalens array comprises metalenses having dimensions that range from about 0.5 micrometer to about 2 micrometers.
6. 6 . The optical interface of claim 1 , wherein each turning element comprises a mirror.
7. 7 . The optical interface of claim 6 , wherein the mirror is formed on an angled sidewall of a trench within the cladding layer.
8. 8 . The optical interface of claim 1 , wherein the optical interface further comprises a second cladding layer, formed on the cladding layer, having a plurality of second inner cores formed therein, wherein each second inner core of the plurality of second inner cores is configured to transmit an optical signal to a respective inner core of the plurality of inner cores via evanescent wave coupling.
9. 9 . The optical interface of claim 8 , wherein the plurality of second inner cores comprises a tapered inner core.
10. 10 . The optical interface of claim 8 , wherein the second cladding layer is hybrid bonded to the cladding layer.
11. 11 . The optical interface of claim 8 , wherein the second cladding layer has a smaller thickness than the cladding layer.
12. 12 . The optical interface of claim 1 , wherein the cladding layer comprises a micro-trench array, each micro-trench of the micro-trench array containing a turning element of the plurality of turning elements.
13. 13 . The optical interface of claim 1 , wherein the cladding layer is formed on an interposer substrate.
14. 14 . The optical interface of claim 1 , wherein the cladding layer has a thickness that ranges from about 5 micrometers to about 20 micrometers.
15. 15 . The optical interface of claim 1 , wherein each inner core the plurality of inner cores is edge coupled to the respective turning element of the plurality of turning elements.
16. 16 . The optical interface of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of turning elements is arranged in a two-dimensional array.
17. 17 . The optical interface of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of inner cores is arranged based on a waveguide pitch of at least about 10 micrometers.
18. 18 . The optical interface of claim 1 , wherein each optical element of the array of optical elements is configured to collimate light redirected by the respective turning element of the plurality of turning elements.
19. 19 . The optical interface of claim 1 , wherein the optical interface comprises a number of columns of turning elements, a number of turning elements per column, and a maximum per-channel bit rate that enables an optical bandwidth density that is greater than or equal to about 10 terabits per second per millimeter (Tb/s/mm).
20. 20 . The optical interface of claim 19 , wherein the number of columns of turning elements is 11, the number of turning elements per column is 7, the maximum per-channel bit rate is 200 gigabits per second, and the optical bandwidth density is about 15.4 Tb/s/mm.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS The present application is a division of U.S. Patent Application No. 19/209,166, filed on May 15, 2025 and entitled “HIGH BANDWIDTH DENSITY OPTICAL INTERFACES FOR CO-PACKAGED DEVICES INCLUDING PHOTONIC INTEGRATED CIRCUITS”, which claims priority to U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 63/711,835, filed on October 25, 2024 and entitled “HIGH BANDWIDTH DENSITY OPTICAL INTERFACES FOR CO-PACKAGED DEVICES INCLUDING PHOTONIC INTEGRATED CIRCUITS”, the entire contents of each of which are hereby incorporated by reference herein. TECHNICAL FIELD Embodiments of the present disclosure relate to optical systems, and more particularly to high bandwidth density optical interfaces for co-packaged optical devices including photonic integrated circuits (PICs). BACKGROUND In an optical system, an optical signal can travel through a waveguide (e.g., optical fiber) that is formed from an inner core made of a first material having a first index of refraction and an outer cladding made of a second material having a second index of refraction less than the first index of refraction. For example, the first material and the second material can each be formed from a different type of glass. Thus, when an optical signal traveling in a waveguide is incident on the boundary between the inner core and the outer cladding at an angle exceeding the critical angle, the optical signal can exhibit total internal reflection. SUMMARY In some embodiments, an optical interface includes a cladding layer having a plurality of inner cores and a plurality of turning elements formed therein. Each inner core the plurality of inner cores is associated with a respective turning element of the plurality of turning elements. The optical interface further includes an array of optical elements formed on the cladding layer. Each optical element of the array of optical elements is associated with a respective turning element of the plurality of turning elements. Numerous other aspects and features are provided in accordance with these and other embodiments of the disclosure. Other features and aspects of embodiments of the disclosure will become more fully apparent from the following detailed description, the claims, and the accompanying drawings. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS The present disclosure is illustrated by way of example, and not by way of limitation, in the figures of the accompanying drawings in which like references indicate similar elements. It should be noted that different references to “an” or “one” embodiment in this disclosure are not necessarily to the same embodiment, and such references mean at least one. FIGS. 1A-1C are diagrams of views of example systems that implement high bandwidth density optical interfaces for co-packaged optical devices including photonic integrated circuits (PICs), according to some embodiments. FIGS. 2-3C are diagrams of example implementations of systems that include high bandwidth density optical interfaces for co-packaged optical devices including photonic integrated circuits (PICs), according to some embodiments. FIGS. 4A-4B are diagrams of example implementations of arrayed channel waveguides that can be implemented within an optical interface, according to some embodiments. FIG. 5 is a diagram of an example implementation of a waveguide routing solution within an optical interface, according to some embodiments. FIGS. 6A-6B are flowcharts of example methods to implement high bandwidth density optical interfaces for co-packaged optical devices including photonic integrated circuits (PICs), according to some embodiments. DETAILED DESCRIPTION Embodiments of the present disclosure relate to high density interposer optical interfaces for co-packaged devices including photonic integrated circuits (PICs). A co-packaged device (e.g., multi-chip module) can include a package substrate having multiple PICs assembled closely together. More specifically, optical components can be integrated on substrates (e.g., silicon (Si) substrate) for fabricating large-scale PICs that co-exist with micro-electronic chips. With the use of an optical transceiver, a received optical signal can be converted to an electrical signal capable of being processed by an integrated circuit, or the processed electrical signal can be converted to an optical signal to be transmitted via an optical fiber. Instead of ICs (e.g., microchips) that utilize electrons to process information, referred to as electronic ICs (EICs), a PIC utilizes photons (light particles) to process information. A PIC can include multiple photonic components connected on a single chip. Examples of components of a PIC include optical signal generators (e.g., lasers) to generate optical signals (e.g., light), waveguides to direct optical signals within the PIC (e.g., similar to wires used to direct electrons), modulators to modulate optical signals to encode information, and detectors to detect and decode the information from t