Prototype packages

PHIX has developed several packaging solutions that allow for convenient, quick and affordable prototyping of your first photonic integrated circuits (PICs). They provide a housing with electrical connections, optical interfaces, and thermal management. Hybrid assembly of auxiliary chips is also supported.

Characterization package for photonic IC

We encourage the choice for a standard housing. Each of these have characteristics that favor certain chip dimensions and system configurations. However, if you have special requirements, we are happy to design a customized prototype package for you.

PHIX Characterization package

This package is constructed from off-the-shelf building blocks and offers a quick and affordable way to perform characterization of your first chips. It is suitable for large fiber arrays. The relatively spacious housing has a lot of room for customer-specific components. The placement of a TEC is also supported. More specifications can be found in our standard package types table. You can also learn more about this package type from our FAQ/video.

PIXAPP Characterization package

In this packaging configuration, your PIC is assembled onto an electronic PCB and an integrated thermoelectric cooler (TEC) is mounted directly below it. For the fiber array attachment, both grating and edge coupling is supported. More specifications can be found in our standard package types table.

PHIX Butterfly

Our butterfly package is well-suited for a compact photonics enabled device prototype with a modest number of inputs and outputs. More specifications can be found in our standard package types table.

PHIX Butterfly XL

At the cost of some DC connections, our PHIX Butterfly XL offers two medium speed (up to 15 GHz) RF connections and in most cases has room for a spot size converting fiber array. In addition, its hermetic fiber feed-through makes this package suitable for full hermeticity.

XLMD-MSA Butterfly

Our XLMD-MSA butterfly package offers the most compact footprint. Although the number of available connections is limited due to its small size, the package provides two SMPM connectors for RF electrical signals. More specifications can be found in our standard package types table.

Large Area Goldbox

This well-sealed and sturdy Goldbox package is great for housing your PIC-enabled module as part of a larger system prototype. Although it only has one facet for optical I/O, up to 64 fibers can be used. The opposite facet is dedicated to up to 8 channels of high speed RF electrical interfacing. An optional fan-out PCB is available. More specifications can be found in our standard package types table.

Custom package

If you have specific needs that do not fit our standard packages, we can make modifications to them or even design a custom package for you. We have designed custom solutions for many markets and our engineers are ready to support your technology.

More details about the differences between our standard package types can be found in this table (new window).

Download our Design Guidelines (.pdf)

To help you optimize your PIC design for low-cost and low-risk packaging and select the most suitable standardized package type, we offer you our PHIX Design Guidelines document as a free download.