Alter UK

Alter’s Somerville package offers an affordable standardised evaluation platform with hermetic capability for fast prototyping.

The Somerville 2 package platform has 40 DC IOs, 8x ground-signal-ground connections, and a single fibre array, and Somerville 3 has dual fibre array and 80x DC IOs. The fibre and connector type is completely customisable. Standard interposers are designed to service 5mm x 5mm and 5mm x 10mm PICs, it is possible to design your own PCB for inside the package or for Alter to provide this service, allowing us to service much larger PICs. Typical lead time is 12-14 weeks and costs start from £2.5k per device.

Key specifications are listed below:

Grating Coupling Generic Package
Specification - Somerville 2
Specification - Somerville 3
Mechanical base dimensions (ext. dimensions (w/ pins and ports))
45mm (width), 7.5mm (height), ~65mm (length) excluding fibres
45mm (width), 7.5mm (height), ~75mm (length) excluding fibres
Compatible PIC dimensions
5mm x 10mm
5mm x 10mm
PCB dimensions
N/A
N/A
Electrical Packaging
Pins (RF GSG) various pitch
Pins 1.27mm pitch
DC connections
40
80
Bond pad dimensions and pitch
100um square, 200um pitch
100um square, 200um pitch
Thermal solutions
TEC & Thermistor
TEC & Thermistor
Waveguide Pitch
127um or 250um
127um or 250um
Optical Channel Count
Up to 32
Up to 64
Optical shunts – no. of channels
2 shunts (4 channels) for each edge, 1 shunt (2 channels) for each grating coupled fibre array
2 shunts (4 channels) for each edge, 1 shunt (2 channels) for each grating coupled fibre array
Fiber Type
SM/PM/MM 1m length typical (customisable)
SM/PM/MM 1m length typical (customisable)
Optical Interface
FC/APC typical (customisable)
FC/APC typical (customisable)

 

For enquiries, please contact: liam.moroney@uk.altertechnology.com