{
  "patent_number": "US 11150423",
  "country": "US",
  "title": "How to Precisely Connect Light Chips to Optical Fibers",
  "original_title": "Optical and thermal interface for photonic integrated circuits",
  "summary": "This patent describes a clever way to accurately align tiny light-emitting components inside a photonic chip with an external optical connector, using a built-in alignment mark and a viewing hole.",
  "what_it_does": "This patent describes an optical apparatus that precisely connects a photonic integrated circuit (PIC) to an optical interface unit. The PIC has a light emitter that sends light through its material to the optical interface unit, which is attached to the PIC's bottom side (claim 1). To ensure perfect alignment, the PIC includes a special \"alignment feature\" on its top side, which is built at a known, fixed distance from the light emitter (claim 1). A small \"hole\" extends from the top side of the PIC down to the bottom, allowing a clear view of this alignment feature from the same side where the optical interface unit connects (claim 1). This setup allows for very accurate positioning of the optical interface unit relative to the light emitter. For example, when manufacturing, a camera could look through the hole to see the alignment feature and then precisely place the optical interface unit based on its known offset from the light emitter. The patent also mentions a heat spreader layer around the optical interface unit to manage heat (claim 10).",
  "what_it_does_not_cover": [
    "Does not cover alignment methods where the alignment feature is not offset by a predetermined distance from the light emitter (claim 1).",
    "Does not cover systems where the alignment feature is viewed from the same side as the light emitter, rather than through a hole from the opposite side (claim 1).",
    "Does not cover optical apparatuses that lack a hole extending from the first side to provide a line of sight to the alignment feature (claim 1).",
    "Does not cover systems where the optical interface unit is not connected to the second side of the photonic integrated circuit (claim 1).",
    "Does not cover alignment techniques that do not involve a heat spreader layer surrounding the optical interface unit (claim 10)."
  ],
  "filed": "2020-03-09",
  "granted": "2021-10-19",
  "expires": "2040-03-09",
  "status": "active",
  "holder": "Aurrion",
  "holder_url": "https://patentbrief.org/company/aurrion",
  "inventors": [
    {
      "name": "Brian R. Koch",
      "url": "https://patentbrief.org/inventor/brian-r-koch"
    },
    {
      "name": "Gregory Alan Fish",
      "url": "https://patentbrief.org/inventor/gregory-alan-fish"
    }
  ],
  "times_cited": 1,
  "tags": [
    "telecommunications",
    "semiconductors",
    "consumer_electronics",
    "software",
    "ai_ml"
  ],
  "abstract": "Described herein are photonic systems and devices including a optical interface unit disposed on a bottom side of a photonic integrated circuit (PIC) to receive light from an emitter of the PIC. A top side of the PIC includes a flip-chip interface for electrically coupling the PIC to an organic substrate via the top side. An alignment feature corresponding to the emitter is formed with the emitter to be offset by a predetermined distance value; because the emitter and the alignment feature are formed using a shared processing operation, the offset (i.e., predetermined distance value) may be precise and consistent across similarly produced PICs. The PIC comprises a processing feature to image the alignment feature from the bottom side (e.g., a hole). A heat spreader layer surrounds the optical interface unit and is disposed on the bottom side of the PIC to spread heat from the PIC.",
  "url": "https://patentbrief.org/patent/us/11150423/optical-and-thermal-interface-for-photonic-integrated-circuits",
  "markdown_url": "https://patentbrief.org/patent/us/11150423/optical-and-thermal-interface-for-photonic-integrated-circuits/md",
  "google_patents_url": "https://patents.google.com/patent/US11150423",
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}