Themostexpensivephaseinthemanufactureofmicro-opticalcomponentsandfiberopticsisalsooneofthemostperformance-critical:opticalalignmentofthecomponents.Theincreasingdegreeofminiaturizationmakesthisanespeciallychallengingtask.Activealignmentmethodsresultinhighercostsandawkwardprocesses,andforsomeapplications,theysimplyarenotpossible.PassiveMicro-OpticalAlignmentMethodsintroducesthepassivealignmentmethodsthatarecurrentlyavailableandillustratesthemwithmanyexamples,references,andcritiques.Thefirstbookdedicatedtopassivealignment,itbeginswithanoverviewofthecurrentactivities,requirements,andgeneralresultsofpassiveopticalalignments,followedbythreesectionsofin-depthanalysis.Thefirstofthesediscussesmechanicalpassivealignment,highlightingsiliconwaferboard,solder,and"Jitney"technologiesaswellasapplicationofmechanicalalignmentto3Dfree-spaceinterconnects.ThenextsectiondescribesthevariousvisualalignmenttechniquesappliedtoPlanarLightwaveCircuits(PLCs)andlow-costplasticandsurfacemountpackaging.ThefinalsectiondetailsvariousutilitiesthataidpassivealignmentandtheirresultingtradeoffsanddemonstratesMonteCarloanalysistoevaluatethepotentialofagivenmethod.PassiveMicro-OpticalAlignmentMethodsprovidesthetoolsnecessarytomeetthechallengeofprecisionandlow-costalignmentforapplicationsthatrequiremicronorsub-microntolerance.