Fiber pigtail with integrated lid

A system, comprising:

• a fiber pigtail;
• and
• a first fiber optic ferrule;
• wherein the fiber pigtail includes a single mode fiber optic ribbon having a section of polymer ribbon removed to expose bare fibers;
• wherein the fiber pigtail includes a second fiber optic ferrule in contact with the single mode fiber optic ribbon at one distal end;
• wherein the fiber pigtail includes an integrated polymer lid permanently attached to the bare fibers of the single mode fiber optic ribbon at an other distal end of the single mode fiber optic ribbon;
• wherein the first fiber optic ferrule is in proximity to the second fiber optic ferrule;
• and
• wherein the bare fibers held by the integrated polymer lid are proximate to single mode waveguides on a wafer as to provide optical coupling between the bare fibers and the single mode waveguides on the wafer.

A method of fabricating a fiber pigtail, the method comprising:

• assembling a fiber optic ferrule to a fiber optic ribbon, a fiber optic ribbon end protruding from the fiber optic ferrule;
• stripping the fiber optic ribbon end protruding from the fiber optic ferrule;
• cleaving the fiber optic ribbon end;
• positioning the fiber optic ribbon end in a temporary V-groove to align a plane of the fiber optic ribbon end with a fixed position in the temporary V-groove;
• placing a polymer lid with an adhesive layer on the fiber optic ribbon end that is positioned in the temporary V-groove;
• applying mechanical pressure to a top surface of the polymer lid to ensure that the adhesive layer contacts a fiber surface of the fiber optic ribbon end;
• and
• removing the temporary V-groove from the fiber optic ribbon end to leave an integrated polymer lid attached to the fiber optic ribbon end.