Not all fiber arrays are created equal.
Most fiber arrays used in photonics today are based on V-groove technology. While highly mature and widely adopted, V-groove arrays inherit the manufacturing tolerances of both the fibers and the carrier.
These include:
• Fiber core eccentricity
• Fiber diameter variations
• Fiber non-roundness
• V-groove dimensional tolerances
• Assembly and glue-induced variations
The result? Fiber core position errors that can easily reach ±0.5 µm for smaller arrays and up to ±1.5 µm for larger arrays.
For many applications, that’s perfectly acceptable.
But when coupling to photonic integrated circuits (PICs), for more and more applications, every mdB loss reduction matters.
At MicroAlign, we take a different approach.
Instead of passively positioning fibers, we actively align every individual fiber core. Our proprietary alignment technology allows all fibers to be controlled simultaneously while each fiber remains independently adjustable.
The animation shows the principle.
By actively positioning each fiber before fixation, we achieve <100 nm fiber core positioning accuracy — independent of the number of channels in the array.
Why does this matter?
✅ Lower fiber-to-chip coupling loss
✅ More uniform performance across channels
✅ Higher sensitivity in sensing applications
✅ Increased dynamic range in multi-channel systems
✅ Better scalability for next-generation PICs
As integrated photonics moves from the lab to commercial products, packaging precision is becoming a key differentiator.
The performance of a photonic chip is only as good as the optical connectivity around it.
Author: Dario Lo Cascio Program Manager at MicroAlign
