CM yes we will have to start thinking about the AGM and where to have our get together. I think most people will want to be walking distance from the AGM. So next week after we have seen the information circular we should be able to get a good handle on who will make it to Toronto for the AGM.

I have been spending some time picking away at the details in the patents that become public.

Very interesting how the platform takes advantage of the structures to provide/combine multiple functions from the dielectric stacks and underlying interposers and substrate. Optical, electrical, thermal and structural requirements are all provided in a CMOS process

The accuracy of stop features for alignment is really a function of the accuracy of the disposition and etches processes of the dielectric stacks. The processes are by their nature very precise and allow the submount to take full advantage of the process to provide the mechanical and thermal requirements of the platform.

I know this stuff is painful to read and hard to follow but it does give you a sense as to how inventive this platform is and how heat is managed using a symbiotic approach.

E.g.  In the cross section shown in FIG. 13A of an embodiment for the inventive sub mount assembly 1305, a thermally conductive dielectric layer 1328 is disposed between the substrate 1310 and the interconnect layer 1320. In these and other embodiments, the thermally conductive dielectric material, such as aluminum nitride, for example, is combined with inventive sub mount assembly 1305 in conjunction with heat generating optoelectrical devices 1360 and inventive planar dielectric stack 1340. In embodiments, inclusion of heat-dissipating, thermally conductive dielectric layer 1328 with inventive dielectric stack structure 1340 improves the reliability of the sub mount assembly 1305 by providing thermally conductive pathways that allow for the transferring of heat from heat generating devices 1360 to heat sinks connected to the substrate 1310 or the sub mount assembly 1305. In preferred embodiments, thermally conductive dielectric layer 1328 is aluminum nitride or an alloy of aluminum nitride. In other embodiments, other thermally conductive dielectric material is used in sub mount assembly 1305 in conjunction with the optoelectrical devices 1360 and inventive planar dielectric stack 1340. In other embodiments, materials that are electrically conductive, such as the metal traces 1326 that are used in the interconnect layer 1320, are used to transfer heat from heat generating devices 1360 to the thermally conductive layers 1328 for conduction of heat to heat sinks on the sub mount assembly 1305.

So you have what amounts to multiple functions provided by the inventive dielectric stack.

Lots of innovation in the work to provide all the functions required and the whole thing is very configurable. The dielectric stacks are repeated depending on for example the capacity needed and number of waveguides composing the arrays.