Patent ID: 7738517

Claim:
A transmitter optical subassembly (TOSA) comprising: a submount assembly substrate, the substrate comprising one or more surfaces, and a plurality of conductors disposed on or in said substrate; a plurality of electrically conductive pins, each pin being electrically coupled to one of said plurality of conductors; a thermal controller integrated in said substrate; a temperature sensor integrated in said substrate; a heater integrated into said substrate, at least one of said plurality of conductors being electrically coupled to said thermal controller and to said temperature sensor, at least one of said plurality of conductors being electrically coupled to said thermal controller and to said heater, at least one of said plurality of conductors being electrically coupled to one of said pins and to said thermal controller; a laser diode die mounted on the substrate, the laser diode die having one or more conductors that are electrically coupled to one or more of said plurality of conductors of said substrate, the heater being in close proximity to the laser diode to allow the heater to heat the laser diode based on determinations made by the thermal controller; and a monitor photodiode mounted on or integrated in the substrate, the monitor photodiode having one or more conductors that are electrically coupled to one or more of said plurality of conductors of said substrate, wherein the sub mount assembly includes five or less electrically conductive pins, each pin being electrically coupled to a respective one of said plurality of conductors, wherein said five or less electrically conductive pins of the submount assembly includes at least first, second, third, fourth, and fifth electrically conductive pins, wherein the first electrically conductive pin provides a modulation current to the laser diode die, wherein the second electrically conductive pin provides a positive supply voltage, Vdd, to one or more components integrated in or mounted on the substrate including the thermal controller, wherein the third electrically conductive pin provides ground potential to one or more components integrated in or mounted on the substrate including the laser diode die, wherein the fourth electrically conductive pin receives a monitoring current from the monitor photodiode, and wherein the fifth electrically conductive pin provides a negative supply voltage, Vss, to one or more components integrated in or mounted on the substrate including the thermal controller.