Optical communication mount for mounting and aligning optical fibers with photo devices

Abstract

An optical communication mount configured for surface mounting of optical transmitters, receivers or transceivers. The mount includes a housing having holes extending from the back side to the front side of the housing. The mount includes a first set of electrically-conductive traces disposed on a bottom side of the housing for surface mounting the mount on a printed circuit board (PCB), and a second set of electrically-conductive traces disposed on the front side of the housing. The mount also includes optical fibers extending into the thru-holes from the back side of the housing. The mount includes photo devices substantially registered with the thru-holes at the front side of the housing in a manner to receive and/or transmit more optical signals by way of the optical fibers, wherein the photo devices are configured to receive bias voltages from the PCB by way of the first and second sets of electrically-conductive traces.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . An optical communication mount, comprising:
 a housing comprising:
 one or more thru-holes extending from a back side of the housing to a front side of the housing; 
 a first set of one or more electrically-conductive traces disposed on a bottom side of the housing; 
 a second set of one or more electrically-conductive traces disposed on the front side of the housing; 
   one or more optical fibers extending into the one or more thru-holes from the back side of the housing, respectively; and   one or more photo devices substantially registered with the one or more thru-holes at the front side of the housing in a manner to receive or transmit one or more optical signals by way of the one or more optical fibers, and wherein the one or more photo devices are configured to receive one or more bias voltages by way of the second set of one or more electrically-conductive traces, respectively.   
     
     
         2 . The optical communication mount of  claim 2 , further comprising a printed circuit board (PCB), wherein the first set of one or more electrically-conductive traces of the housing are electrically attached to corresponding one or more electrically-conductive traces on the PCB. 
     
     
         3 . The optical communication mount of  claim 3 , wherein the PCB comprises a driver circuit for generating the one or more bias voltages, wherein the one or more bias voltages are routed to the one or more photo devices by way of the one or more electrically-conductive traces on the PCB, the first set of one or more electrically-conductive traces, and the second set of one or more electrically-conductive traces, respectively. 
     
     
         4 . The optical communication mount of  claim 1 , wherein the one or more thru-holes are tapered in a narrowing manner from the back side towards the front side of the housing. 
     
     
         5 . The optical communication mount of  claim 1 , wherein the one or more thru-holes are stepped in a narrowing manner from the back side towards the front side of the housing. 
     
     
         6 . The optical communication mount of  claim 1 , wherein the one or more photo devices are arranged as an array of photo devices formed on a second housing, wherein the one or more thru-holes are arranged as an array of thru-holes in the housing, and wherein the array of photo devices are configured to register with the array of thru-holes when the second housing is mated with the housing. 
     
     
         7 . The optical communication mount of  claim 6 , wherein the front side of the housing comprises a recesses, and wherein the second housing is configured to register with the recesses when the second housing is mated with the housing. 
     
     
         8 . The optical communication mount of  claim 6 , wherein the second housing comprises a third set of conductive traces configured to make electrical contact with the second set of conductive traces disposed on the front side of the housing, wherein the bias voltages are routed to the array of photo devices by way of the second and third sets of conductive traces. 
     
     
         9 . The optical communication mount of  claim 6 , wherein the second housing comprises at least one conductive trace for routing ground potential to the array of photo devices. 
     
     
         10 . The optical communication mount of  claim 1 , further comprising at least one conductive trace disposed on the front side of the housing for routing ground potential to the one or more photo devices. 
     
     
         11 . The optical communication mount of  claim 10 , further comprising:
 a printed circuit board (PCB); and   another at least one electrically-conductive trace for routing ground potential to the one or more photo devices, the another at least one electrically-conductive trace being disposed on the bottom side of the housing, wherein the another at least one conductive trace is electrically attached to at least one corresponding electrically-conductive trace on the PCB for routing the ground potential from the PCB to the one or more photo devices.   
     
     
         12 . The optical communication mount of  claim 1 , further comprising a driver configured to generate the one or more bias voltages for the one or more photo devices, respectively, wherein the driver is mounted on the front side of the housing. 
     
     
         13 . The optical communication mount of  claim 12 , wherein the driver is configured to receive one or more voltages by way of the first set of one or more electrically-conductive traces, wherein the driver is configured to generate the one or more bias voltages based on the one or more voltages, respectively. 
     
     
         14 . The optical communication mount of  claim 1 , wherein the one or more optical fibers are attached to the housing via the one or more thru-holes in a friction fit manner. 
     
     
         15 . The optical communication mount of  claim 1 , wherein the one or more optical fibers are attached to the housing via the one or more thru-holes using an adhesive. 
     
     
         16 . The optical communication mount of  claim 1 , wherein the one or more photo devices comprise a mix of one or more photo detectors and one or more vertical cavity surface emitting lasers (VCSELs). 
     
     
         17 . The optical communication mount of  claim 1 , wherein the one or more photo devices all consists exclusively of one or more vertical cavity surface emitting lasers (VCSELs). 
     
     
         18 . The optical communication mount of  claim 1 , wherein the one or more photo devices all consists exclusively of one or more photo detectors. 
     
     
         19 . An optical communication mount, comprising:
 a housing comprising:
 one or more thru-holes extending from a back side of the housing to a front side of the housing; and 
 one or more electrically-conductive traces disposed on the front side of the housing; 
   one or more optical fibers extending into the one or more thru-holes from the back side of the housing, respectively; and   one or more photo devices substantially registered with the one or more thru-holes at the front side of the housing in a manner to receive or transmit one or more optical signals by way of the one or more optical fibers, and wherein the one or more photo devices are configured to receive one or more bias voltages by way of the one or more electrically-conductive traces, respectively.   
     
     
         20 . An optical communication mount, comprising:
 a housing comprising one or more thru-holes extending from a first side of the housing to a second side of the housing;   one or more optical fibers extending into the one or more thru-holes from the first side of the housing, respectively; and   one or more photo devices substantially registered with the one or more thru-holes at the second side of the housing in a manner to receive or transmit one or more optical signals by way of the one or more optical fibers, respectively.