What conditions do 5G communication optical modules need to meet?

With the rapid development of the Internet of Things, big data and cloud computing technology, the amount of transmission required for information interaction has shown an explosive growth. As the basic component supporting the development of optical communication, semiconductor lasers are also constantly being optimized to meet the needs of modern communication.

Compared with the 4G base station, the 5G base station has undergone some changes. The bipolar structure of the 4G BBU and RRU has evolved to the three-level structure of the 5G centralized unit (CU), distribution unit (DU) and active antenna processing unit (AAU), and three networks, namely, forward transmission, intermediate transmission and return transmission, have been derived.

After the concept of 5G was put forward, the demand for optical modules has increased significantly. This demand is mainly reflected in two aspects: on the one hand, the demand for the number of optical modules. In addition to the traditional forward and back transmission optical modules, new optical modules need to be added in the intermediate transmission link; On the other hand, there is a demand for the speed of optical modules. The 4G forward transmission and return transmission use 10G optical modules, while the 5G forward transmission requires tens of millions of 25G/50G optical modules, and the return transmission requires 100G optical modules. The return convergence layer even requires 200G or 400G optical modules.

According to the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, 5G networks will be commercialized by 2020. In the process of formulating standards, 25G and 100G optical module standards have been affirmed by most operators. According to the data from the survey organization, the construction of 5G bearer network base stations will be a period of rapid development before 2022, and the demand for optical modules will be driven rapidly by the construction of bearer networks. It is estimated that the total expenditure of 5G networks will be 1400 billion, the market volume of optical modules will reach 62 billion, and the investment in optical modules is expected to account for 4.4% of the total expenditure of 5G networks.

At present, the packaging challenges of optoelectronic devices are faced with the following problems. The first is how to design an efficient coupling system and a temperature control system; The second is how to make use of the parasitic effect brought by the package to compensate the shortage of the chip while the single transistor device is marching towards the direction of high speed and large bandwidth; The third is how to realize the feeding of multiple microwave signals in a limited space, as well as complete structural transformation, mode field matching and other complex structural design when array devices are developing towards miniaturization and integration.