Fabrication of a hybrid electrical-optical printed circuit board (EO-PCB) by lamination of an optical printed circuit board (O-PCB) and an electrical printed circuit board (E-PCB)

We report on the results of our work on the fabrication of a hybrid electrical-optical printed circuit board (EOPCB) by lamination of an optical printed circuit board (O-PCB) and an electrical printed circuit board (EPCB). This is a part of our work on the micro/nano-scale design, fabrication and integration of optical waveguide arrays and devices for optical printed circuit board (O-PCBs) and VLSI micro/nano-photonic integrated circuit application. The integrated circuit layers form the O-PCB, which is to perform the functions of transporting, switching, routing and distributing optical signals on flat modular boards. The OPCBs consist of an optical layer containing planar circuits and arrays of waveguides and photonic devices of various dimensions and characteristics and an electrical layer containing electrical circuits of various functions. Here, we laminate the two layers to form an O-PCB. The advantages include the processing simplification, cost reduction, fabrication of compact devices, and reduction of alignment problem among others. The VLSI micro/nano-photonic integrated circuits perform similar functions on a chip scale. We describe the lamination process and examine the characteristics of the laminated EO-PCBs.

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