CN116794789A

CN116794789A - Optical component and preparation method thereof

Info

Publication number: CN116794789A
Application number: CN202210272574.9A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 封建胜; 付思东; 王健; 孙敏; 李翔
Original assignee: Tencent Technology Shenzhen Co Ltd
Current assignee: Tencent Technology Shenzhen Co Ltd
Priority date: 2022-03-18
Filing date: 2022-03-18
Publication date: 2023-09-22

Abstract

The application provides an optical component and a preparation method of the optical component; the optical assembly includes: the device comprises a main substrate, a light emitting element, a light emitting substrate, a lens and a supporting element, wherein: the light emitting element is fixed on the light emitting substrate, the light emitting substrate is fixed on the main substrate, and the bottom surface of the supporting element is fixed on the main substrate; the light passing surface of the lens is adhered to the side surface of the supporting element, and the lens performs focusing coupling or collimation on the optical signals output by the light emitting element. In the application, the lens in the optical component is fixed on the supporting element in a light-passing surface bonding mode, so that the optical component can be ensured to have high tolerance.

Description

Optical component and preparation method thereof

Technical Field

The present application relates to optical communication technology, and in particular, to an optical module and a method for manufacturing the optical module.

Background

In an optical transceiver module, it is necessary to efficiently couple an optical signal emitted from a laser into a waveguide, such as an optical fiber, for transmission over an optical fiber trunk. The lens is a key component for realizing high-efficiency optical coupling, and how to fix the lens ensures that the coupling efficiency is stable and unchanged under the severe working temperature/humidity condition of the whole system, thereby realizing the high-quality center of gravity of the optical transceiver module. UV glue with a low thermal expansion coefficient is often used in the related art to adhere the bottom surface of the lens to the substrate. The thickness tolerance requirement of the scheme on optical materials is high, 100% test grouping is often needed on the thicknesses of the materials, time and labor are consumed, and the situation that the thickness of a glue layer is greatly changed due to tolerance accumulation in the same batch can occur, so that the consistency of products is poor; and UV glue with low thermal expansion coefficient is needed, so that the number of suppliers is small and the cost is high.

Disclosure of Invention

The embodiment of the application provides an optical component and a preparation method of the optical component, which can prepare the optical component with high tolerance and low cost.

The technical scheme of the embodiment of the application is realized as follows:

an embodiment of the present application provides an optical assembly including:

the device comprises a main substrate, a light emitting element, a light emitting substrate, a lens and a supporting element, wherein:

the light emitting element is fixed on the light emitting substrate, the light emitting substrate is fixed on the main substrate, and the bottom surface of the supporting element is fixed on the main substrate;

the light passing surface of the lens is adhered to the side surface of the supporting element, and the lens performs focusing coupling or collimation on the optical signals output by the light emitting element.

In some embodiments, the light-passing surface of the lens is adhered to the light-exiting side of the support element, or,

the light passing surface of the lens is adhered to the light entering side surface of the supporting element.

In some embodiments, the bonding site of the lens and the support element corresponds to a non-light-passing region of the lens, and the non-light-passing region is located below the light-passing region of the lens.

In some embodiments, the bonding portion of the lens and the support element corresponds to a non-light-passing region of the lens, and the non-light-passing region is located above the light-passing region of the lens, and the position on the support element corresponding to the light-passing region is hollow.

In some embodiments, the supporting element is made of transparent material, and the bonding part of the lens and the supporting element corresponds to a part or all of the light transmitting area of the lens.

In some embodiments, the number of lenses is one or more.

In some embodiments, the light emitting element is adhered to the light emitting substrate by a first adhesive, or the light emitting element is soldered to the light emitting substrate;

the light emergent substrate is adhered to the main substrate through a second adhesive, or the light emergent substrate is welded to the main substrate;

the support member is adhered to the main substrate by a third adhesive, or the support member is welded to the main substrate.

In some embodiments, the optical assembly further comprises an optical waveguide and an optical waveguide substrate;

the optical waveguide is fixed on the optical waveguide substrate, the optical waveguide substrate is fixed on the main substrate, the lens is positioned between the light-emitting element and the optical waveguide, and an optical signal emitted by the light-emitting element is incident into the optical waveguide after passing through the lens element.

The embodiment of the application provides a preparation method of an optical component, which comprises the following steps:

Acquiring a main substrate, a light emitting element, a light emitting substrate, a lens, a supporting element, an optical waveguide and an optical waveguide substrate, fixing the light emitting substrate to the main substrate, and fixing the light emitting element to the light emitting substrate;

determining an optical waveguide position based on the position of the light emitting element, and fixing the optical waveguide substrate to the main substrate and the optical waveguide to the optical waveguide substrate based on the optical waveguide position;

determining a target position of the support element based on the positions of the light emitting element and the light waveguide, and fixing the support element to the target position on the main substrate;

and determining the setting position of the lens on the side surface of the supporting element, and bonding the lens to the setting position to obtain the prepared optical assembly.

The embodiment of the application has the following beneficial effects:

an embodiment of the present application provides an optical assembly, which may be applied to an optical module, including: the device comprises a main substrate, a light emitting element, a light emitting substrate, a lens and a supporting element, wherein: the light emitting element is fixed on the light emitting substrate, the light emitting substrate is fixed on the main substrate, and the bottom surface of the supporting element is fixed on the main substrate; the light-passing surface of the lens is adhered to the side surface of the supporting element, and the side surface of the supporting element, namely the light-passing surface of the supporting element, has larger optical tolerance along the optical axis direction, so that the requirement on the thermal expansion coefficient of the adhesive is reduced when the light-passing surface of the lens is adhered to the supporting element, and the cost can be reduced; in addition, the thickness of the adhesive layer can be flexibly adjusted without affecting the performance of the light path, the thickness of the adhesive layer of the product is kept near the same value, and the consistency of the product can be improved.

Drawings

FIG. 1A is a schematic diagram of an optical assembly provided in the related art;

FIG. 1B is a schematic diagram of another optical assembly provided in the related art;

FIG. 2A is a schematic diagram of an optical assembly according to an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 2B is a schematic diagram of another optical component according to an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 2C is a schematic diagram of another optical component according to an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 3A is a schematic flow chart of an implementation of a method for manufacturing an optical component according to an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 3B is a schematic diagram of an implementation flow for determining a lens position and bonding a lens according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 4A is a schematic view illustrating a light emitting surface of a lens fixed on a conversion block in an optical assembly according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 4B is a schematic view of a lens fixed on a light incident surface of a conversion block according to an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 5 is another schematic view of the lens fixed on the light-transmitting surface of the adapter block according to the embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 6 is a schematic view of a lens fixed on a light-transmitting surface of a adapter block according to an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 7A is a schematic diagram of an optical assembly with a lens according to an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 7B is a schematic diagram of an optical assembly with two lenses according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 8 is a schematic flow chart of another implementation of the method for manufacturing an optical component according to an embodiment of the present application.

Detailed Description

The present application will be further described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings, for the purpose of making the objects, technical solutions and advantages of the present application more apparent, and the described embodiments should not be construed as limiting the present application, and all other embodiments obtained by those skilled in the art without making any inventive effort are within the scope of the present application.

In the following description, reference is made to "some embodiments" which describe a subset of all possible embodiments, but it is to be understood that "some embodiments" can be the same subset or different subsets of all possible embodiments and can be combined with one another without conflict.

In the following description, the terms "first", "second", "third" and the like are merely used to distinguish similar objects and do not represent a specific ordering of the objects, it being understood that the "first", "second", "third" may be interchanged with a specific order or sequence, as permitted, to enable embodiments of the application described herein to be practiced otherwise than as illustrated or described herein.

As used in the specification and in the claims, the terms "a," "an," "the," and/or "the" are not specific to a singular, but may include a plurality, unless the context clearly dictates otherwise. Generally, the terms "comprises" and "comprising" merely indicate that the steps and elements are explicitly identified, and they do not constitute an exclusive list, as other steps or elements may be included in a method or apparatus.

In describing embodiments of the present application in detail, the cross-sectional view of the device structure is not partially exaggerated to a general scale for convenience of explanation, and the schematic drawings are only examples and should not limit the scope of the present application herein. In addition, the three-dimensional dimensions of length, width and depth should be included in actual fabrication.

Spatially relative terms, such as "under … …," "under … …," "below," "under … …," "above … …," "above," and the like, may be used herein for ease of description to describe one element or feature's relationship to another element or feature as illustrated in the figures. It will be understood that the spatially relative terms are intended to encompass different orientations of the device in use and operation in addition to the orientation depicted in the figures. For example, if the device in the figures is turned over, elements or features described as "under" or "beneath" other elements would then be oriented "on" the other elements or features. Thus, the exemplary terms "under … …" and "under … …" may include both an upper and a lower orientation. The device may be otherwise oriented (rotated 90 degrees or other orientations) and the spatially relative descriptors used herein interpreted accordingly.

In the context of the present application, a structure described as a first feature being "on" a second feature may include embodiments where the first feature and the second feature are formed in direct contact, as well as embodiments where additional features are formed between the first feature and the second feature, such that the first feature and the second feature may not be in direct contact.

Unless defined otherwise, all technical and scientific terms used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art to which this application belongs. The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing embodiments of the application only and is not intended to be limiting of the application.

Before describing embodiments of the present application in further detail, the terms and terminology involved in the embodiments of the present application will be described, and the terms and terminology involved in the embodiments of the present application will be used in the following explanation.

1) The optical module is composed of an optoelectronic device, a functional circuit, an optical interface and the like, wherein the optoelectronic device comprises a transmitting part and a receiving part, the optical module has the function that a transmitting end converts an electric signal into an optical signal, and a receiving end converts the optical signal into the electric signal after the optical signal is transmitted through an optical fiber.

2) An optical waveguide is a dielectric device, also known as a dielectric optical waveguide, that guides the propagation of an optical wave therein. Optical waveguides fall into two broad categories: one type is an integrated optical waveguide, including planar (thin film) dielectric optical waveguides and strip-shaped dielectric optical waveguides, which are typically part of an optoelectronic integrated device (or system), and are therefore called integrated optical waveguides; the other is a cylindrical optical waveguide, commonly referred to as an optical fiber.

In order to better understand the optical component provided by the embodiment of the present application, first, a description will be given of a technical solution in the related art.

In the related art, an Ultraviolet (UV) adhesive with a low thermal expansion coefficient is generally used to adhere the bottom surface of the lens to the substrate, and fig. 1A is a schematic view of an optical assembly having a single lens in the related art, and the optical assembly shown in fig. 1A includes: the optical component comprises a substrate 100, a laser substrate 101, a laser 102, a lens 103-1, a waveguide substrate 104 and a waveguide 105, wherein the laser substrate 101 and the waveguide substrate 104 are respectively fixed on the substrate 100, the laser 102 is adhered to the laser substrate 101, the waveguide 105 is adhered to the waveguide substrate 104, and the lens 103 is adhered to the substrate 100 through an adhesive agent 106.

The thickness tolerance of conventional optical elements is shown in table 1, the height tolerance between the laser optical axis and the waveguide optical axis reaches +/-70um, and in order to avoid lens and substrate collision, the spatial height below the lens is required to be greater than 45um, i.e. the possible value of the glue layer thickness is in the range of 0-90 um. Considering the thermal expansion coefficient, the thickness change of the glue layer with the thickness of 90um within the range of 0-70 ℃ is 0.3um, and the coupling efficiency change amount is more than 1dB due to the collision caused by the moisture absorption of the glue, so that the optical path performance is deteriorated.

TABLE 1 thickness tolerance and thermal expansion coefficient of optical elements

The UV adhesive layer has larger thickness and poor consistency, can lead to the reduction of bonding strength, and the displacement caused by hygroscopic expansion and high-temperature thermal expansion becomes larger, thereby reducing the coupling efficiency and the product quality. At present, most manufacturers choose to additionally add a group of small substrates with different thicknesses between the coupling lens and the substrate to compensate the accumulated thickness tolerance, so as to realize the thickness of the small UV adhesive layer. The solution has complex process and high cost.

Fig. 1B is a schematic diagram of an optical assembly with a dual lens in the related art. As shown in fig. 1B, the optical assembly includes: a substrate 100, a laser substrate 101, a laser 102, a collimator lens 103-1, a converging lens 103-2, a waveguide substrate 104, and a waveguide 105, wherein: the laser substrate 101 and the waveguide substrate 104 are respectively fixed on the substrate 100, the laser 102 is adhered to the laser substrate 101, the waveguide 105 is adhered to the waveguide substrate 104, and the collimator lens 103-1 and the converging lens 103-2 are respectively adhered to the substrate 100 by an adhesive 106. The collimating lens 103-1 collimates the light emitted from the laser 102, and the converging lens 103-2 convergently couples the collimated light into the waveguide 105. The lens fixing mode is also bottom surface bonding, and although the tolerance of the convergent lens is increased, the tolerance of the collimating lens is the same as that of the single lens scheme, and is still sensitive to temperature and humidity.

In the optical assemblies in the related art, the bottom surfaces of the lenses are adhered to the substrate, so that the requirements on thickness tolerance of optical materials such as lasers, substrates, waveguides and the like are high, and 100% test grouping is often required for the thicknesses of the materials, which is time-consuming and labor-consuming; and UV glue with low thermal expansion coefficient is needed, so that the number of suppliers is small and the cost is high.

Based on the technical problems in the related art, an optical component is provided in the embodiment of the present application, and fig. 2A is a schematic diagram of a composition structure of the optical component provided in the embodiment of the present application, as shown in fig. 2A, the optical component 200 includes: a main substrate 201, a light-emitting element 202, a light-emitting substrate 203, a lens 204, and a support element 205, wherein:

the primary substrate 201 is used to house the light-emitting substrate 203 and the support element 205, and may be a plane of a package housing that encapsulates the optical assembly, or may be a heat sink or other flat plate, such as a semiconductor cooler (TEC, thermo Electric Cooler), a thermally conductive metal, or the like.

The light-emitting substrate 203 is used for placing the light-emitting element 202, and the light-emitting element 202 may be a laser, for example, a semiconductor laser.

The support element 205 is used for supporting the lens 204, and the support element 205 may be made of silicon, glass, ceramic, or the like, and the lens 204 may be made by press molding a lens glass in a lens mounting hole. The lens 204 is a coupling lens, and may be a high power ball lens, or an aspheric lens. The lens 204 performs focusing coupling or collimation on the optical signal output by the light-emitting element 202.

As shown in fig. 2A, the light-emitting substrate 203 is fixed on the main substrate 201, the light-emitting element 202 is fixed on the light-emitting substrate 203, the bottom surface of the supporting element 205 is fixed on the main substrate 201, and the light-transmitting surface of the lens 204 is adhered to the side surface of the supporting element 205, wherein the bottom surface of the supporting element 205 is a plane parallel to the optical axis and in contact with the main substrate 201, the side surface of the supporting element 205 is a plane perpendicular to the optical axis, and the side surface of the supporting element 205 can be also understood as the light-transmitting surface of the supporting element.

In some embodiments, the fixing the light emitting element 202 on the light emitting substrate 203 may have at least two implementations:

1. the light-emitting element 202 is bonded to the light-emitting substrate 203 by a first adhesive.

The first adhesive can be resin glue added with silver powder, so that a better heat dissipation effect is achieved.

2. The light-emitting element is welded to the light-emitting substrate.

The solder used is a binary metal mixture.

Similarly, the light-emitting substrate 203 is fixed on the main substrate 201, and may be bonded to the main substrate by a second adhesive, or the light-emitting substrate is welded to the main substrate; the support element 205 may be fixed to the main substrate 201 by bonding the support element to the main substrate with a third adhesive, or by welding the support element to the main substrate.

The first adhesive, the second adhesive, and the third adhesive may be the same or different, and specific types of the first adhesive, the second adhesive, and the third adhesive are not limited in the embodiment of the present application. For example, the first adhesive may be an ultraviolet curable adhesive, the second adhesive may be a thermosetting adhesive, and the third adhesive may be an ultraviolet curable adhesive.

In the optical assembly provided by the embodiment of the application, the setting position of the lens in the optical axis direction is adjusted through the supporting element, the adjustment in the optical axis direction is decoupled from the lens, and the other two dimensions are not required to be considered for adjustment when the supporting element is fixed, so that the thickness of the adhesive layer between the supporting element and the main substrate can be controlled to be in the micrometer level, and the bonding strength and the thermal stability are greatly enhanced; and the bonding is performed on the light-passing surface of the lens 204, and because the lens has larger optical tolerance along the optical axis direction, the influence of the thermal expansion coefficient of the glue on the coupling efficiency can be reduced, and the flexibility of selecting the adhesive is higher, so that the types of the glue and suppliers can be greatly increased, and the supply safety is enhanced. In addition, as can be seen from fig. 2A, the lens 20 and the main substrate 201 are not in contact, so that strict control on the height tolerance of the lens is not required, the requirement on the uniformity of the lens size is greatly reduced, and the cost of the lens is reduced.

In the optical assembly shown in fig. 2A, the light-transmitting surface of the lens 204 is adhered to the light-emitting side of the supporting element 205, and in some embodiments, the light-transmitting surface of the lens 204 may also be adhered to the light-entering side of the supporting element 20.

In the optical assembly shown in fig. 2A, the bonding portion between the lens 204 and the supporting element 205 includes a partial region of the light-transmitting region of the lens and a partial non-light-transmitting region of the lens, and in some embodiments, the bonding portion between the lens 204 and the supporting element 205 may include all the light-transmitting region and a partial non-light-transmitting region. Since the bonding site covers part or all of the light-transmitting region, the supporting member 20 is required to be made of a transparent material, for example, silicon or glass, but not ceramic.

In the optical assembly shown in fig. 2B, the bonding portion between the lens 204 and the support element 205 corresponds to a non-light-transmitting area of the lens, and the non-light-transmitting area is located below the light-transmitting area of the lens, so that the support element 205 does not block light, and therefore, the support element 205 is not required to be made of a transparent material, and the support element 205 may be made of silicon, glass, ceramic, or the like.

Fig. 2C is a schematic structural diagram of an optical assembly according to an embodiment of the present application, and as shown in fig. 2C, the optical assembly 200 includes: a main substrate 201, a light-emitting element 202, a light-emitting substrate 203, a lens 204, and a support element 205, wherein:

the light-emitting substrate 203 is fixed on the main substrate 201, the light-emitting element 202 is fixed on the light-emitting substrate 203, the bottom surface of the supporting element 205 is fixed on the main substrate 201, and the light-transmitting surface of the lens 204 is bonded to the side surface of the supporting element 205.

As shown in fig. 2C, the bonding portion between the lens 204 and the supporting element corresponds to a light-non-passing area of the lens, and the light-non-passing area is located above the light-passing area of the lens. In an embodiment of the present application, in order to prevent the light from being blocked by the support element, as shown by 602 in fig. 6, a position on the support element 205 corresponding to the light-transmitting region is hollow. At this time, the transparency necessary for the support member 205 is not necessarily required, and the support member 205 may be silicon, glass, ceramic, or the like. In addition, as the light-transmitting area of the lens is not adhered with glue, the requirement of light transmittance of the adhesive for fixing the lens and the supporting element can be reduced, and the selection range of the adhesive is improved.

In some embodiments, when the bonding portion between the lens 204 and the support element 205 corresponds to the non-light-transmitting area of the lens 204 and the non-light-transmitting area is located above the light-transmitting area of the lens 204, the position on the support element 204 corresponding to the light-transmitting area may not be hollow, and thus the support element 205 needs to be made of a transparent material, such as silicon, glass, or the like, so as to prevent blocking of light.

In some embodiments, as shown in fig. 2C, the optical assembly further comprises an optical waveguide 206 and an optical waveguide substrate 207, wherein:

the optical waveguide substrate 207 is fixed on the main substrate 201, the optical waveguide 206 is fixed on the optical waveguide substrate 207, the lens 204 is located between the light emitting element 202 and the optical waveguide 206, the optical axis of the light emitting element 201 and the optical axis of the optical waveguide 206 are at predetermined positions, and the optical signal emitted from the light emitting element 202 is incident into the optical waveguide 206 after passing through the lens 204.

When the optical waveguide 206 is fixed to the optical waveguide substrate 207, the optical waveguide 206 may be bonded to the optical waveguide substrate 207 by a fifth adhesive, wherein the fifth adhesive may be an ultraviolet light curable adhesive to which glass frit is added, so that the thermal expansion coefficient of the fifth adhesive is close to that of glass.

In fig. 2A, 2B and 2C, an example is illustrated in which one lens is included in the optical assembly, and in practical application, the number of lenses in the optical assembly is one or more, and in general, the number of lenses is the same as the number of supporting elements, that is, the lenses are in one-to-one correspondence with the supporting elements.

In some embodiments, other optical elements, such as wavelength division multiplexing demultiplexer, optical isolator, polarization beam splitting element, etc., may be added to the optical path between the lens and the optical waveguide, which is not limited in the embodiments of the present application.

Based on the foregoing embodiments, the embodiments of the present application provide a method for manufacturing an optical assembly, which is used to manufacture the optical assembly provided in other embodiments, and the optical assembly may be applied to an optical module. Fig. 3A is a schematic flow chart of an implementation of a method for manufacturing an optical component according to an embodiment of the present application, as shown in fig. 3A, where the flow chart includes:

step S301, a main substrate, a light emitting element, a light emitting substrate, a lens, a supporting element, an optical waveguide, and an optical waveguide substrate are obtained, the light emitting substrate is fixed to the main substrate, and the light emitting element is fixed to the light emitting substrate.

The main substrate can be a plane of a packaging shell for packaging the optical component, and can also be other flat plates, the light emitting element can be a laser, the light emitting substrate, the supporting element and the optical waveguide substrate can be silicon, glass, ceramic and the like, and the lens can be prepared by glass for the lens and is used for coupling and collimating the light emitted by the light emitting element and emitting the light to the optical waveguide.

There are two ways to fix the light-emitting substrate to the main substrate and fix the light-emitting element to the light-emitting substrate when the light-emitting element is implemented: bonding, welding, namely correspondingly, fixing the light emitting substrate on the main substrate, wherein the top surface of the main substrate is coated with a second adhesive, and the light emitting substrate is bonded on the main substrate by using the second adhesive, or the light emitting substrate is welded on the main substrate; the fixing of the light emitting element to the light emitting substrate may be performed by coating a first adhesive on a first position on the top surface of the light emitting substrate, and adhering the light emitting element to the light emitting substrate by using the first adhesive, or may be performed by welding the light emitting element to the light emitting substrate.

The first adhesive may be determined based on the material of the light-emitting substrate and the light-emitting element, and the second adhesive may be determined based on the material of the main substrate and the light-emitting substrate, and the first adhesive and the second adhesive may be the same or different.

In step S302, the optical waveguide position is determined based on the position of the light emitting element, and the optical waveguide substrate is fixed to the main substrate and the optical waveguide is fixed to the optical waveguide substrate based on the optical waveguide position.

When determining the position of the optical waveguide, the optical axis information of the light emitted by the light emitting element needs to be determined by the position of the light emitting element, and then when determining the position of the optical waveguide based on the optical axis information, it needs to be ensured that the deviation distance between the optical axis of the light emitting element and the optical axis of the optical waveguide cannot exceed a preset distance, for example, the preset distance may be 20 micrometers.

When the optical waveguide substrate is fixed to the main substrate and the optical waveguide is fixed to the optical waveguide substrate, similar to step S301, two implementation manners are possible: firstly, the adhesive is used for bonding and fixing, and secondly, the adhesive is welded and fixed.

Step S303, determining a target position of the supporting element based on the positions of the light emitting element and the optical waveguide, and fixing the supporting element at the target position on the main substrate.

When the step is realized, the preset positions of the supporting element and the lens are obtained, the supporting element and the lens are adjusted near the preset positions until the maximum coupling efficiency is achieved, at the moment, the current position of the supporting element is determined as the target position of the supporting element, then the target position is coated with adhesive, and pressure is applied to enable the adhesive layers of the supporting element and the main substrate to be thin enough.

And step S304, determining the setting position of the lens on the side surface of the supporting element, and adhering the lens to the setting position to obtain the prepared optical assembly.

In some embodiments, determining the set position of the lens is referred to as lens coupling. When the method is realized, the lens is moved on the side surface of the supporting element, the coupling efficiency of the current optical component is tested and recorded, when the maximum coupling efficiency is reached, the maximum coupling efficiency obtained in the step is calculated and compared with the maximum coupling efficiency obtained in the step S303, if the difference value of the maximum coupling efficiency and the maximum coupling efficiency is within a certain range, the current position of the lens is determined as the setting position of the lens, then the setting position is coated with adhesive, the lens is close to the setting position and contacted with the adhesive, the distance between the lens and the supporting element is controlled to control the thickness of the adhesive, and after the thickness reaches a preset value, the position of the lens is regulated to ensure that the coupling efficiency reaches the maximum, and the curing treatment can be carried out at the moment, so that the prepared optical component is obtained.

In the method for manufacturing an optical assembly provided by the embodiment of the application, after a main substrate, a light emitting element, a light emitting substrate, a lens, a supporting element, an optical waveguide and an optical waveguide substrate are obtained, the light emitting substrate is firstly fixed on the main substrate, the light emitting element is fixed on the light emitting substrate, then the position of the optical waveguide is determined based on the position of the light emitting element, so that the optical axis of the light emitting element is aligned with the optical axis of the optical waveguide, then the optical waveguide substrate is fixed on the main substrate based on the position of the optical waveguide, the optical waveguide is fixed on the optical waveguide substrate, then the target position of the supporting element is determined based on the positions of the light emitting element and the optical waveguide, the supporting element is fixed on the target position on the main substrate, at this time, the positioning of the lens in the optical axis direction is completed, then the positions of the lens in the other two dimensions are determined, and the lens is moved on the side face of the supporting element until the maximum coupling efficiency is reached when the lens is determined, so that the setting position of the lens is bonded on the side face of the supporting element, and the manufactured optical assembly is obtained, the bottom surface of the lens is not in contact with the main substrate, therefore the height is not controlled, the requirement on the size is greatly reduced, and the cost is reduced. Meanwhile, the height tolerance between the light emitting element and the optical axis of the optical waveguide can be flexibly adjusted to compensate, high-efficiency coupling is realized, the thickness tolerance requirements on the light emitting element, the main substrate and other optical elements can be reduced, and therefore the manufacturing process of the light emitting element and the main substrate is simplified, and the manufacturing cost is reduced.

In some embodiments, the "determining the target position of the support element based on the positions of the light emitting element and the optical waveguide" in the above step S303 may be achieved by:

step S3031, acquiring a first preset position of the support element and a second preset position of the lens.

The first preset position and the second preset position are predetermined according to theoretical data when designing the optical assembly.

Step S3032, placing the supporting element at the first preset position, and placing the lens at the second preset position, so as to obtain an initial coupling efficiency.

In this step, the supporting element and the lens are placed at respective preset positions and are not fixed, and then the laser is emitted by the light emitting element, and coupled and collimated by the lens, the laser passing through the lens is incident to the optical waveguide, and the power of the laser emitted by the laser and the power of the laser received by the optical waveguide are used to initiate the coupling efficiency.

Step S3033, adjusting the support element and the lens based on the first preset position and the second preset position until a first maximum coupling efficiency is reached.

When the step is realized, the supporting element is adjusted near the first preset position, the lens is adjusted near the second preset position, the coupling efficiency is recorded after each adjustment, after the maximum coupling efficiency is obtained, whether the current obtained maximum coupling efficiency reaches a preset coupling efficiency threshold value is determined, and if the current obtained maximum coupling efficiency reaches the preset coupling efficiency threshold value, the current maximum coupling efficiency is determined as the first maximum coupling efficiency. In some embodiments, if the current maximum coupling efficiency does not reach the preset coupling efficiency threshold, the adjustment of the positions of the support element and the lens is continued.

Step S3034, determining, as the target position of the supporting element, the position of the supporting element when the first maximum coupling efficiency is reached.

Through the steps S3031 to S3034, the supporting element and the lens are adjusted based on the preset positions of the supporting element and the lens to obtain the maximum coupling efficiency, so that the target position of the supporting element is determined, the pre-coupling process is realized, and the position of the lens in the optical axis direction is determined at the determined target position of the supporting element, so that the adjustment of the optical axis direction is decoupled from the lens, and the adjustment of other two dimensions (an X axis and a Y axis) is not required to be considered, therefore, the thickness of the adhesive layer between the supporting element and the main substrate can be controlled to be in the micrometer level, and the adhesive strength and the thermal stability are greatly enhanced.

In some embodiments, the step S304 "determining the setting position of the lens on the side of the supporting element and adhering the lens to the setting position to obtain the prepared optical assembly" may be implemented through steps S3041 to S3046 shown in fig. 3B, and each step is described below in connection with fig. 3B. This can be achieved by the following steps:

step S3041, moving the lens at the side of the supporting member and obtaining the coupling efficiency of the current optical assembly.

When the step is realized, the lens is tightly attached to the side face of the supporting element to move, and when the lens is moved at each position, the light emitting element is used for emitting laser, the laser is coupled and collimated through the lens, the laser passing through the lens is incident to the optical waveguide, and the coupling efficiency of the optical component is determined when the lens is at the position by using the power of the laser emitted laser and the power of the laser received by the optical waveguide.

Step S3042, when it is determined that the second maximum coupling efficiency is reached, determining a difference between the first maximum coupling efficiency and the second maximum coupling efficiency.

The coupling efficiency of each position is obtained through step S3041, the current maximum coupling efficiency is determined therefrom, and when the current maximum coupling efficiency is determined to reach the preset coupling efficiency threshold, the current maximum coupling efficiency is determined to be the second maximum coupling efficiency, and the difference between the first maximum coupling efficiency and the second maximum coupling efficiency is determined. The difference may be the absolute value of the difference between the two.

In step S3043, it is determined that the difference is smaller than the preset difference threshold, and the position where the lens is located when the second maximum coupling efficiency is reached is determined as the set position of the lens.

In some embodiments, if the difference is not less than the difference threshold, the adjustment of the lens position is continued until the maximum coupling efficiency is reached and the difference is less than the difference threshold.

In step S3044, a fourth adhesive is applied to the side surface of the support member, and the lens is bonded to the set position by the fourth adhesive.

The fourth adhesive may be an ultraviolet light curable adhesive or a thermosetting adhesive. After the side of the support member is coated with the fourth adhesive, the lens is brought close to the side to bring the lens into contact with the fourth adhesive, thereby adhering the lens to the set position.

Step S3045, determining that the thickness of the adhesive between the lens and the side surface of the supporting element reaches a preset value, and obtaining the coupling efficiency of the current optical assembly.

In the embodiment of the application, after the lens is adhered to the setting position, a force towards the direction of the supporting component can be applied to the lens, so that the thickness of the adhesive between the lens and the supporting component is controlled, after the preset value of the thickness of the adhesive is determined, the laser is emitted by the light emitting element, and is coupled and collimated by the lens, the laser passing through the lens is incident to the optical waveguide, and the coupling efficiency of the current optical component is determined based on the power of the laser emitted by the laser and the power of the laser received by the optical waveguide.

And step S3046, adjusting the position of the lens, and curing the current optical component when the third maximum coupling efficiency is determined to be reached, so as to obtain the prepared optical component.

Since there is no adhesive between the lens and the side of the support member when the second maximum coupling efficiency is reached, and if the adhesive portion covers the light passing area after the adhesive is applied between the lens and the support member, the adhesive will affect the coupling efficiency, and if the adhesive portion does not cover the light passing area, but the distance between the lens and the side of the support member will also affect the coupling efficiency, fine adjustment of the position of the lens is required after the lens is adhered to the set position to ensure that the optical assembly can achieve the maximum coupling efficiency. This step is achieved by adjusting the position of the lens in the vicinity of the set position and recording the coupling efficiency until a third maximum coupling efficiency is reached. The optical component may then be cured based on the type of adhesive, for example, uv light irradiation for uv light curable glue and heat curing for heat curable glue to obtain a prepared optical component.

In the above-described steps S3041 to S3046, since the position of the lens in the optical axis direction is determined, only the movement is required on the side surface of the support member to determine the set position of the lens, and when the lens is adhered to the side surface of the support member, if the adhering portion covers the light passing region of the lens, the change in distance between the lens and the side surface of the support member and the transmittance of the adhesive affect the coupling efficiency, and even if the adhering portion does not cover the light passing region of the lens, the change in distance between the lens and the side surface of the support member affects the coupling efficiency, so that fine adjustment of the position of the lens is required until the maximum coupling efficiency is reached, and finally the optical assembly is cured to obtain the prepared optical assembly.

The embodiment of the application provides an optical assembly, which has the characteristics of low cost and high tolerance and can be used for optical coupling of an optical module. In the related art, the bottom surface of the lens is fixed by the lens of the optical component in the optical module, and in the optical component provided in the embodiment of the application, the light-passing surface of the lens is fixed by introducing a supporting component, which is also called a conversion block in the embodiment of the application, and the light-passing surface of the lens can be fixed on the light-emitting surface or the light-entering surface of the conversion block. Fig. 4A is a schematic view illustrating a light emitting surface of a lens fixed on a conversion block in an optical assembly according to an embodiment of the present application; as shown in fig. 4A, the lens 401 is adhered to the light emitting surface of the adapter block 402 by an adhesive, and the adapter block 402 is adhered to the substrate 403 by an adhesive. Fig. 4B is a schematic view of a lens fixed on a light incident surface of a adapter block according to an embodiment of the present application, as shown in fig. 4B, a lens 401 is adhered to the light incident surface of the adapter block 402 by an adhesive, and the adapter block 402 is adhered to a substrate 403 by the adhesive.

Fig. 5 is another schematic diagram of the lens fixing on the light-transmitting surface of the adapter block according to the embodiment of the application, as shown in fig. 5, the lens 501 is adhered to the light-transmitting surface of the adapter block 502 by an adhesive, and the adhesion part between the lens 501 and the adapter block 502 is a non-light-transmitting area of the lens 502, and the adapter block 502 is adhered to the substrate 503 by the adhesive. The scheme has no glue on the optical path, reduces the requirement on the light transmittance of the glue for bonding the lens and the adapter, and is mainly used for application scenes with high optical power.

Fig. 6 is a schematic diagram of a lens fixed on a light-passing surface of a adapter block according to an embodiment of the present application, where 601 is a side view and 602 is a front view. As shown in fig. 6, the lens 6011 is adhered to the light incident surface of the adapter 6012 by an adhesive, and the adhesion part between the lens 6011 and the adapter 6012 is a non-light-transmitting area of the lens 6011, and the light-transmitting area of the lens 6011 and the adapter 6012 are not overlapped, so that no glue exists on the light path, and the requirement on the light transmittance of the adhesive glue for the lens and the adapter is reduced.

Fig. 7A is a schematic structural diagram of an optical component with a lens according to an embodiment of the present application, as shown in fig. 7A, the optical component includes a laser 701, a laser substrate 702, an adapter 703, a lens 704, a waveguide 705, a waveguide substrate 706, and a substrate 707. Wherein the laser 701 is attached to a laser substrate 702, the waveguide 705 is fixed to a waveguide substrate 706, the coupling lens 704 is fixed to a conversion block 703, and these optical elements are all arranged on the same substrate 707. The optical signal is emitted from the laser 701, passes through the switching block 703 and the lens 704, and then is converged into the waveguide 705, so that the coupling of the optical signal from the laser and the waveguide is realized.

The transfer block 703 is used to adjust the position of the lens 704 in the Z-axis direction, and there is no requirement for the position of the lens itself in the X-axis and Y-axis directions, so the thickness of the adhesive layer between the transfer block and the substrate can be reduced by applying a vertical downward pressure thereto, and the thickness of the adhesive layer is adjusted by adjusting the magnitude of the pressure, which is generally less than 10 micrometers. The cured thin adhesive layer has better adhesive strength, temperature change resistance and moisture resistance.

And adjusting the X-axis and Y-axis direction positions of the coupling lens so as to maximize the coupling efficiency. As the tolerance of the lens in the Z-axis direction is an order of magnitude larger than that of the other two directions, the thickness of the adhesive layer between the coupling lens and the adapter block is adjusted, and the adhesive layer of different products is consistent and thin while the coupling efficiency is not affected.

Fig. 7B is a schematic structural diagram of an optical assembly with two lenses according to an embodiment of the present application, as shown in fig. 7a and B, the optical assembly includes: in comparison to the optical assembly shown in fig. 7A, with laser 701, laser substrate 702, adapter 703, lens 7-1, lens 704-2, waveguide 705, waveguide substrate 706, and substrate 707, in fig. 7B there are two lenses, wherein a first lens 704-1 collimates the light emitted by the laser and a second lens 704-2 focuses the collimated light into the waveguide. Lens 704-1 and lens 704-2 are secured in the same manner as lens 704 in fig. 7A. In practical implementation, other optical elements, such as an isolator, a wave combining and dividing element and the like, can be added between the two lenses.

The embodiment of the application also provides a manufacturing method of the optical component, and fig. 8 is a schematic diagram of another implementation flow of the manufacturing method of the optical component provided by the embodiment of the application, as shown in fig. 8, where the flow includes:

Step S801, laser patch.

In practice, the laser chip may be bonded to the laser substrate and the laser substrate may be bonded to the substrate.

Step S802, waveguide bonding.

Here, the waveguide is bonded so that the optical axis of the laser and the optical axis of the waveguide are at the designed position according to the position of the laser, and the optical axis of the waveguide is required to be shifted by less than 20um from the designed position.

Step S803, pre-coupling.

After the laser and waveguide are bonded and cured, pre-coupling is entered. This step, when implemented, places the transfer block and lens in a designed position and adjusts the transfer block and lens about that position to achieve maximum coupling efficiency.

Step S804, test if the insertion loss is qualified.

Whether the insertion loss is qualified or not is tested, when the insertion loss is realized, whether the maximum coupling efficiency obtained after the pre-coupling reaches a preset coupling threshold value or not can be determined, if the maximum coupling efficiency reaches the preset coupling threshold value, the insertion loss is determined to be proper, and step S805 is performed at the moment; otherwise, the insertion loss is determined to be unqualified, and the process returns to step S803.

Step S805, fixing the adapter block.

When the step is realized, glue is dispensed on the bottom surface of the transfer block, and pressure is applied to enable the glue layers of the transfer block and the substrate to be thin enough.

Step S806, lens coupling.

After fixing the adapter block, the lens is coupled, and when implementing, the lens position is independently adjusted to obtain the maximum coupling efficiency, the maximum coupling efficiency is recorded, and the maximum coupling efficiency is compared with the maximum coupling efficiency determined in the pre-coupling step, if the maximum coupling efficiency and the maximum coupling efficiency are the same, the step S807 is performed.

Step S807, test whether insertion loss is appropriate.

If the insertion loss is acceptable, the process proceeds to step S808, and if the insertion loss is unacceptable, the process returns to step S806.

Step S808, dispensing the lens.

When the step is realized, a proper amount of glue is dispensed on the light passing surface of the adapter block, the lens is close to the light passing surface and is contacted with the glue, and the distance between the lens and the adapter block is controlled to control the thickness of the glue, so that the thickness of the glue between the lens and the adapter block reaches a preset value.

Step S809, fine tuning the lens.

Here, the positions of the lenses in the X-axis and the Y-axis are adjusted so that the coupling efficiency is maximized.

Step S810, testing whether the insertion loss is qualified.

If the insertion loss is qualified, the step S811 is entered; if the insertion loss is not acceptable, the process returns to step S809.

In step S811, the glue is cured.

Step S812, final measurement.

In this step, the coupling efficiency of the resulting optical component after the coupling process is completed is measured and recorded.

In the optical component provided by the embodiment of the application, the lens is fixed in the adapter block by adopting the light-passing surface fixing mode, and the lens has larger optical tolerance along the optical axis direction, so that the high requirement on the thermal expansion coefficient of glue can be reduced, the type of glue can be selected, the flexibility of suppliers is higher, and the supply safety is enhanced. Meanwhile, the thickness of the adhesive layer can be flexibly adjusted without affecting the performance of an optical path, the thickness of the adhesive layer of a product is kept near the same value, and the consistency of the product is improved; and secondly, the adjustment of the optical axis direction is realized through the adapter block, the adjustment of the optical axis direction is decoupled from the lens, and the adjustment of other two dimensions (X axis and Y axis) is not needed to be considered when the adapter block is fixed, so that the thickness of a glue layer between the adapter block and the substrate can be controlled to be in the micrometer level, and the bonding strength and the thermal stability are greatly enhanced. After the adapter block is fixed on the substrate, the lens only needs to adjust the positions of the X axis and the Y axis, and the height tolerance of the lens does not need to be strictly controlled due to the fixed light passing surface, so that the requirement on the size of the lens is greatly reduced, and the cost of the lens is reduced. Meanwhile, the height tolerance between the laser and the optical axis of the waveguide can be flexibly adjusted to compensate, high-efficiency coupling is realized, the thickness tolerance requirements on optical elements such as the laser, a substrate and the like can be reduced, and therefore the material cost can be reduced.

It should be appreciated that reference throughout this specification to "one embodiment" or "an embodiment" means that a particular feature, structure or characteristic described in connection with the embodiment is included in at least one embodiment of the present application. Thus, the appearances of the phrases "in one embodiment" or "in an embodiment" in various places throughout this specification are not necessarily all referring to the same embodiment. Furthermore, the particular features, structures, or characteristics may be combined in any suitable manner in one or more embodiments. It should be understood that, in various embodiments of the present application, the sequence numbers of the foregoing processes do not mean the order of execution, and the order of execution of the processes should be determined by the functions and internal logic thereof, and should not constitute any limitation on the implementation process of the embodiments of the present application. The foregoing embodiment numbers of the present application are merely for the purpose of description, and do not represent the advantages or disadvantages of the embodiments.

It should be noted that, in this document, the terms "comprises," "comprising," or any other variation thereof, are intended to cover a non-exclusive inclusion, such that a process, method, article, or apparatus that comprises a list of elements does not include only those elements but may include other elements not expressly listed or inherent to such process, method, article, or apparatus. Without further limitation, an element defined by the phrase "comprising one … …" does not exclude the presence of other like elements in a process, method, article, or apparatus that comprises the element.

In the several embodiments provided by the present application, it should be understood that the disclosed apparatus and method may be implemented in other ways. The above described device embodiments are only illustrative, e.g. the division of the units is only one logical function division, and there may be other divisions in practice, such as: multiple units or components may be combined or may be integrated into another system, or some features may be omitted, or not performed. In addition, the various components shown or discussed may be coupled or directly coupled or communicatively coupled to each other via some interface, whether indirectly coupled or communicatively coupled to devices or units, whether electrically, mechanically, or otherwise.

The units described above as separate components may or may not be physically separate, and components shown as units may or may not be physical units; can be located in one place or distributed to a plurality of network units; some or all of the units may be selected according to actual needs to achieve the purposes of the embodiment of the present application.

In addition, each functional unit in each embodiment of the present application may be integrated in one processing unit, or each unit may be separately used as one unit, or two or more units may be integrated in one unit; the integrated units may be implemented in hardware or in hardware plus software functional units.

Those of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that: all or part of the steps for implementing the above method embodiments may be implemented by hardware related to program instructions, and the foregoing program may be stored in a computer readable storage medium, where the program, when executed, performs steps including the above method embodiments; and the aforementioned storage medium includes: a mobile storage device, a Read Only Memory (ROM), a magnetic disk or an optical disk, or the like, which can store program codes.

Alternatively, the above-described integrated units of the present application may be stored in a computer-readable storage medium if implemented in the form of software functional modules and sold or used as separate products. Based on such understanding, the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present application may be embodied essentially or in part contributing to the prior art in the form of a software product stored in a storage medium, comprising instructions for causing an AC to perform all or part of the methods described in the various embodiments of the present application. And the aforementioned storage medium includes: various media capable of storing program codes, such as a removable storage device, a ROM, a magnetic disk, or an optical disk.

The foregoing is merely an embodiment of the present application, but the scope of the present application is not limited thereto, and any person skilled in the art can easily think about changes or substitutions within the technical scope of the present application, and the changes and substitutions are intended to be covered by the scope of the present application. Therefore, the protection scope of the present application shall be subject to the protection scope of the claims.

Claims

1. An optical assembly, the optical assembly comprising: the device comprises a main substrate, a light emitting element, a light emitting substrate, a lens and a supporting element, wherein:

2. The optical assembly of claim 1, wherein the light passing surface of the lens is bonded to the light exiting side of the support member, or,

3. The optical assembly of claim 2, wherein the bonding location of the lens to the support element corresponds to a non-light transmissive region of the lens, and the non-light transmissive region is located below the light transmissive region of the lens.

4. The optical assembly of claim 2 wherein the bonding locations of the lens and the support element correspond to non-light-passing areas of the lens and the non-light-passing areas are located above the light-passing areas of the lens, the support element being hollow at locations corresponding to the light-passing areas.

5. An optical assembly according to claim 2, wherein the support element is made of transparent material, and the bonding portion between the lens and the support element corresponds to a part or all of the light transmission area of the lens.

6. The optical assembly of any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein the number of lenses is one or more.

7. The optical assembly of any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein the light extraction element is bonded to the light extraction substrate by a first adhesive or the light extraction element is soldered to the light extraction substrate;

8. The optical assembly of any one of claims 1 to 5, further comprising an optical waveguide and an optical waveguide substrate;

9. A method of making an optical assembly, the method comprising:

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the securing the light-exiting element to the light-exiting substrate comprises:

coating a first adhesive on a first position of the top surface of the light-emitting substrate, and adhering the light-emitting element to the light-emitting substrate by using the first adhesive; or alternatively, the process may be performed,

and welding the light-emitting element to the light-emitting substrate.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein determining the target position of the support element based on the positions of the light-exiting element and the optical waveguide comprises:

acquiring a first preset position of the supporting element and a second preset position of the lens;

placing the supporting element at the first preset position, and placing the lens at the second preset position to obtain initial coupling efficiency;

adjusting the support element and the lens based on the first preset position and the second preset position until a first maximum coupling efficiency is reached;

determining the position of the support element when the first maximum coupling efficiency is reached as the target position of the support element.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein said determining the location of the lens on the side of the support element comprises:

moving the lens at the side of the support element and obtaining the coupling efficiency of the current optical assembly;

determining a difference between the first maximum coupling efficiency and the second maximum coupling efficiency when it is determined that the second maximum coupling efficiency is reached;

and determining that the difference is smaller than a preset difference threshold, and determining the position of the lens when the second maximum coupling efficiency is reached as the setting position of the lens.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein said adhering said lens to said set position results in a prepared optical assembly comprising:

coating a fourth adhesive on the side surface of the supporting element, and adhering the lens to the setting position through the fourth adhesive;

determining that the thickness of the adhesive between the lens and the side surface of the supporting element reaches a preset value, and obtaining the coupling efficiency of the current optical assembly;

and adjusting the position of the lens, and performing curing treatment on the current optical component when the third maximum coupling efficiency is determined to be reached, so as to obtain the prepared optical component.