Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1330321
88 PCB007 MAGAZINE I JANUARY 2021 the Wolfson School of Mechanical and Man- ufacturing Engineering, Loughborough Uni- versity. They joined eight companies: Xyratex Technology (project manager and manufactur- er of petabyte data storage systems); BAE Sys- tems (global aerospace, security and defense company); Renishaw, Dow Corning USA (poly- mer supplier); Exxelis (polymer supplier); Ste- venage Circuits Ltd. (PCB manufacturer); Ca- dence Design Systems (PCB layout software supplier); and National Physical Laboratory (national standards laboratory). The simple research in polymer waveguides that started in 1998 at Heriot-Watt University is now a very large program involving four UK uni- versities and ten industrial firms. The current ref- erence [OPCB-12] has no less than 35 references published from 2005 to 2010. The purpose of this program is to develop manufacturing techniques for integrated optical and electrical interconnects in standard FR-4 PCBs. In particular: • To establish waveguide design rules for several different manufacturing techniques and to incorporate them into commercial design rule checker and constraint manag- er layout software. PCB designers can easily incorporate optical connection layers without detailed knowledge of the optics involved in their designs • To investigate and understand the effect of behavior of light and the effect on waveguide loss • To develop low-cost manufacturing techniques for OPCBs. To develop and to compare the commercial and technological benefits of several optical PCB manufacturing technologies— photolithography, direct laser writing, laser ablation, embossing, extrusion and ink-jet printing— for high-data rate, small and large (19 in.), rigid and flexible PCBs so that it will be clear which technology is best for each type of PCB • To characterize the behavior of optical waveguide backplane systems in real- world conditions, including temperature cycling, high humidity, and vibration • To design a commercial, low-cost, optical connector (dismountable, passive, self-aligning and mid-board) as the next stage from the prototype demonstrated in an earlier project (Storlite Project) (Figure 9) • To develop novel connector designs suited for interfacing flip-chip lasers and photodiodes to OPCBs, and OPCBs to OPCBs through a right-angle connector Figure 9. Demonstration of optical backplane and optical connector components.