OPTICAL FIBER CONNECTION ARCHITECTURE

1 . An optical fiber package including:

a housing having a plurality of walls, one of the walls including a via passing therethrough;

an optical fiber mounted in the housing and extending through at least a portion of the via; and

a connector having:

a first portion mounted in the via, wherein the optical fiber passes through the first portion; and

a second portion extending outside the housing and including a collar operable to receive a male protrusion of an external fiber.

2 . The optical fiber package of claim 1 wherein the second portion further comprises a receiver operable to receive a housing of the external fiber.

3 . The optical fiber package of claim 1 wherein the optical fiber package comprises a Photonic Integrated Circuit package.

4 . The optical fiber package of claim 1 wherein the optical fiber package comprises at least one of a BGA package, a SCSP package, a Flip Chip BGA package, a Flip Chip CSP package, or a Super Flip Chip package (FCBGA, fcCSP, SuperFC, or fcLGA).

5 . The optical fiber package of claim 1 wherein the optical fiber in the optical fiber package is optically connected to an optical element.

6 . The optical fiber package of claim 5 wherein the optical element comprises a Photonic Integrated Circuit.

7 . The optical fiber package of claim 5 wherein the optical element comprises at least one of an LED, a modulator, a laser, or a detector.

8 . The optical fiber package of claim 1 wherein a GRIN lens is mounted in the connector between the optical fiber and the collar.

9 . The optical fiber package of claim 1 wherein the collar is concentric with the optical fiber.

10 . The optical fiber package of claim 1 wherein the optical fiber package comprises at least one of a direct straight fiber, a tapered fiber, or a fiber with an attached GRIN lens.

11 . An optical fiber connector including:

a protrusion operable to pass through a via of a package;

a flange laterally disposed with respect to the protrusion and operable to couple to a wall of the package;

an optical fiber element passing through the protrusion;

a receiver coupled to the flange and extending away from the wall of the package; and

a collar aligned with the optical fiber element and extending away from the optical fiber element, wherein the collar is operable to receive a male tip of an external fiber.

12 . The optical fiber connector of claim 11 wherein the receiver is operable to receive a housing of the external fiber.

13 . The optical fiber connector of claim 11 wherein the package comprises a BGA package.

14 . The optical fiber connector of claim 11 further comprising a GRIN lens disposed in the protrusion between the optical fiber element and the collar.

15 . The optical fiber connector of claim 11 wherein the collar is concentric with the optical fiber element.