Recent electronic devices have incorporated optical components in place of electrical components. Increases in communication capacity within chips, boards, modules, and subsystems of chips are limited by electrical interconnects that are used in the chips, boards, modules, and subsystems of chips. Optical interconnects are often considered as enabling better performance than electrical interconnects, for example in terms of bandwidth, distance, and susceptibility to electromagnetic noise.
Alignment can be a difficulty with optical interconnects, photonic circuit modules, waveguides, and/or optical components. Without proper alignment, many optical systems cannot function properly. Precise alignment can be difficult and time consuming. Manufacturing complexity, time-expenditure, and cost of optical devices can be high as a result of small tolerances.