JP2002333542A - Molding die for optical element, method for manufacturing molding die for optical element, method for manufacturing optical element, and optical element - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a molding die for optical elements, which easily adjust the optical axis in a submicron order by integrated molding when an optical waveguide is connected to an optical fiber, at a reasonable cost. SOLUTION: The molding die 29 for optical elements is obtained by using a master die 28 prepared by integrating the fiber guide groove 22 and the molding part 25 of the optical waveguide.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a molding die for an optical element for integrally producing an optical element by a press molding method, a method for producing the same, a method for producing an optical element, and an optical element.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, optical communication has been remarkably developed, and has come into practical use in CATV and computer networks. However, for wider spread,
Significant cost reduction and mass production of optical components used for communication,
There is a demand for solving problems such as miniaturization.

For example, an optical mounting circuit board using an optical waveguide has been proposed for integration and miniaturization of an optical transceiver. A quartz optical waveguide having a desired function is formed on a silicon substrate, and a semiconductor element or an electric circuit is mounted by wiring metal electrodes, and optical fibers are arranged in an array by a V-groove guide. Is connected to an optical waveguide to constitute an optical module (for example, JP-A-5-60940 or JP-A-5-27410). By using such an optical waveguide, an integrated and miniaturized optical module can be realized.

[0004] These optical modules are expensive parts.

One reason is that optical waveguides are expensive. Optical waveguides are manufactured using semiconductor processes such as flame deposition, film formation by CVD, core patterning by photolithography and dry etching. However, since the chip size is relatively large, the cost reduction effect can be achieved even in mass production. Can't expect.

[0006] Another reason is that the connection cost between the optical waveguide and the optical fiber is high. As shown in FIG. 5, the substrate on which the optical waveguide is formed and the substrate on which the guide groove for fixing the optical fiber is formed are independently and separately separated.
In order to suppress the optical loss between the optical fiber and the optical waveguide, in the case of the single mode, it is necessary to adjust the position of ± 1 μm or less, assemble and fix. These optical axis adjustments are currently performed with a system provided with an automatic adjustment mechanism for a number of axes, and have had great problems in terms of mass productivity and economy. Also, V
Also for the formation of the grooves, selective wet etching of a silicon substrate and a grinding method of various substrates have been used, which have disadvantages of poor mass productivity and poor groove shape reproducibility.

As a method of reducing these costs, a groove for fixing the fiber and a groove corresponding to the core of the optical waveguide are formed by using press molding which has already been put into practical use as a method for manufacturing an aspherical glass lens. A method of forming an optical waveguide by embedding a core material such as a resin in a groove corresponding to a core has been proposed in, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 7-287141.

In this method, a mold having a concave and convex shape corresponding to a fiber fixing portion and an optical waveguide portion is pressed against a workpiece to transfer an inverted shape thereof, and a fiber fixing guide and an optical waveguide groove are formed. Mass production with good reproducibility.

By embedding a core material such as resin in the groove for the optical waveguide, it is possible to function as an optical waveguide, and use a mold in which the relative positions of the grooves for the fiber and the optical waveguide are accurately determined. By creating an optical element that has transferred the shape, just by placing the optical fiber in the groove,
The optical fiber and the optical waveguide can be easily optically connected with high efficiency without special position adjustment.

[0010]

In the case where an optical element including an optical waveguide having a fine structure is to be transferred and formed by press molding, there is a problem in obtaining a molding die.

In the case of the single mode, the optical waveguide has a rectangular cross section having a width and depth of about several microns, so that it is difficult to machine the optical waveguide with high precision. Hitherto, it has been proposed to form an optical waveguide pattern on a mold using dry etching (for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. H11-218).
No. 631).

[0012] However, dry etching is excellent in processing accuracy of a minute shape, but it is difficult to process a size of several tens to several hundreds of microns, and it is difficult to process a shape having a large dimensional difference. Also, the production efficiency of the mold is not high due to heavy use of photolithography and vacuum processes.
To that extent, the manufacturing cost of optical components increases.

On the other hand, if the optical waveguide pattern is processed by wet etching, an undercut (a phenomenon in which the lower portion of the mask is shaved and thinned) occurs, so that a rectangular cross section required for the optical waveguide cannot be obtained.

In a single mode optical fiber, the diameter is 12
It is about 5 microns, and the dimensional difference from an optical waveguide of about several microns is 10 times or more.

Therefore, it is difficult to fabricate a mold having the above-described fiber fixing portion and a portion corresponding to the core of the optical waveguide at the same time only by dry etching, so that only the portion corresponding to the core of the optical waveguide is provided. It was formed by dry etching, and the fiber fixing portion was formed by means such as machining. That is, in a mold for manufacturing an optical element, different processing methods are used for portions having different functions.

However, the production of such a molding die raises the unit price of the molding die in any case. Since the number of optical elements that can be produced by the molding die is determined to some extent, the cost of the molding die is reduced. Thus, the cost of the optical element has been raised.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned problems, and uses a mold capable of forming portions having different functions in an optical element by the same processing method. It is an object of the present invention to obtain a molding die and a method for manufacturing the same.

[0018]

In order to achieve the above object, a first aspect of the present invention (corresponding to claim 1) includes a base and a predetermined optical path provided in the base shape. A first molding pattern for molding a first optical component, and a second molding pattern for molding a second optical component having an optical path deeper than the predetermined optical path, wherein the first molding pattern is provided. An optical element molding die for molding the predetermined substrate into an optical element by pressing the pattern, the second molding pattern and the base onto a predetermined substrate,
An optical element molding die in which the base, the first molding pattern, and the second molding pattern are integrally molded.

The second invention (corresponding to claim 2)
Is a base, a first forming pattern for forming a first optical component having a predetermined optical path provided in the base shape, and a second optical element having an optical path deeper than the predetermined optical path. A second molding pattern for molding a part, and pressing the first molding pattern, the second molding pattern, and the base onto a predetermined substrate to convert the predetermined substrate into an optical element. An optical element molding die for molding, wherein the base, the second molding pattern, and a third molding pattern for forming the first molding pattern are integrally molded, and the third molding is performed. An optical element forming die in which the first forming pattern is formed by processing a pattern.

Further, the third invention (corresponding to claim 3)
Is a method for manufacturing a molding die for an optical element according to the first invention, wherein a fourth molding pattern corresponding to the first molding pattern is formed on a predetermined base, and the second molding pattern is formed. Forming a mold by forming a fifth molding pattern corresponding to the step, and integrally molding the base, the first molding pattern, and the second molding pattern using the mold. This is a method for producing a molding die for an optical element, comprising:

The fourth invention (corresponding to claim 4)
Is a method for manufacturing a molding die for an optical element according to the second aspect of the present invention, wherein a fifth molding pattern corresponding to the second molding pattern is formed on a predetermined base, and the third molding pattern is formed. Forming a mold by forming a sixth molding pattern corresponding to the above, and integrally molding the base, the second molding pattern and the third molding pattern using the mold. Processing the third molding pattern to form the first
Forming a molding pattern of the optical element.

The fifth invention (corresponding to claim 5)
Wherein the first optical component is for an optical waveguide, and the second component is for an optical fiber. Is the way.

The sixth invention (corresponding to claim 6)
The third or fourth aspect of the present invention is the method for manufacturing a mold for an optical element according to the third or fourth aspect, wherein the base is a high melting point glass.

The seventh invention (corresponding to claim 7)
The sixth aspect of the present invention is the method for producing a mold for optical elements according to the sixth aspect of the present invention, wherein the high melting point glass has a yield point of 600 ° C. or more.

Further, an eighth aspect of the present invention (corresponding to claim 8)
Is at least platinum (Pt) on the surface in contact with the base,
A protective film containing all or a part of osmium (Os), iridium (Ir), rhodium (Rh), rhenium (Re), ruthenium (Ru), tantalum (Ta), or tungsten (W) as a main component is coated. A third or fourth method for producing a molding die for an optical element according to the present invention.

The ninth invention (corresponding to claim 9)
The depth of said first optical path is less than 15 microns,
The third or fourth method for producing a mold for an optical element according to the third or fourth aspect of the present invention, wherein the depth of the second optical path is several tens of microns or more.

The tenth aspect of the present invention (corresponding to claim 10) is to use the optical element molding die of the first or second aspect of the present invention, wherein the optical element molding die is heated and softened. An optical element manufacturing method for manufacturing an optical element by transferring an inverted shape of the optical element forming die to the resin by pressing.

An eleventh aspect of the present invention (corresponding to claim 11) is an optical element manufactured by using the first or second optical element molding die, wherein the resin softened by heating is used. An optical element manufactured by pressing an optical element molding die and transferring an inverted shape of the optical element molding die to the resin.

The present invention as described above, as an example,
The first optical element mold has different shapes with different processing depths,
For example, as a mold for forming an optical waveguide pattern having a concave or convex shape and an optical fiber guide provided with a predetermined relative positional accuracy with the optical waveguide pattern, a mold having a high melting point glass on a press surface is used. High melting point glass such as Pyrex (registered trademark) can be finely processed by dry etching and has relatively high mechanical strength. Therefore, it can be used as a molding die. This is effective as a mold for producing an optical element made of a low-melting glass or a plastic material that can be molded at a temperature at which the high-melting glass used in the mold does not soften.
Further, when molding glass or the like, if necessary, if a protective film made of a specific material and an intermediate layer are provided on the pressed surface, a mold having good durability can be obtained. In particular, in the case of a single mode optical fiber or optical waveguide, the depth and width of the optical waveguide pattern are required to be 15 μm or less, and the relative positional accuracy between the optical fiber guide and the optical waveguide pattern is required to be ± 1 μm or less, but these fine shapes are damaged. It can be molded without any.

In another aspect of the present invention, as an example, the first method for manufacturing a mold for an optical element includes a method for manufacturing a mold for an optical element made of such a high melting point glass by using a master mold. The method is characterized in that an inverted shape of the master mold is transferred onto the substrate by pressing and pressing the prepared and heated high melting point glass substrate. For optical glass such as Pyrex having a particularly high yield point, it is possible to transfer the shape with high precision by press-molding at a temperature higher than the yield point.

Another example of the present invention is as follows.
The method of manufacturing a mold for an optical element according to the first aspect of the present invention is a method of manufacturing a mold for an optical element made of such a high melting point glass, the first mold having a shape having a large processing depth such as an optical fiber guide portion, A first mold and a second mold having a predetermined step are prepared, and the first mold and the second mold are positioned and fixed with a predetermined relative positional accuracy to be a master mold, and are heated. The reverse shape of the master mold is transferred to the softened high-melting glass substrate by pressing and pressing the same, and the flat portion obtained corresponding to the second mold is subjected to photolithography and etching, for example, by photolithography. It is characterized by forming a fine shape such as a wave pattern. Molding for optical elements with high-melting glass on the pressed surface without obtaining a master mold that integrates a concave or convex optical waveguide pattern and an optical fiber guide provided with this with a predetermined relative positional accuracy The mold can be easily realized.

According to another aspect of the present invention, as an example, the second optical element molding die has a first mold having irregularities of several tens of microns or more and a second mold having a fine shape of 15 microns or less. The first die is processed through machining, and the second die is processed through etching. For example, a first mold having an optical fiber guide molding portion and a second mold having a concave or convex optical waveguide pattern are separately processed and aligned. It is particularly desirable that the first and second molds have the same number of thermal expansions. Further, the same material may be used.

[0033]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

(Embodiment 1) FIG. 1 shows the structure of a mold for an optical element according to the present invention. This is intended to be applied to a single mode optical waveguide and an optical fiber, and has a width of about 10 μm, which is formed on the base 10 and serves as a core of the optical waveguide provided on the plane pattern 10a. It has an optical waveguide pattern 11 having a height and an optical fiber guide molded portion 12 having a height of about 100 microns and a V-shaped cross section adjacent thereto. Further, at least the optical fiber guide forming portion 12 and the plane pattern 10a are integrally formed. Further, the optical waveguide pattern 11 may be simultaneously formed by integral molding.

As a base material of such a mold for an optical element, borosilicate, silicate glass, barium and the like such as Pyrex (yield point of 652 ° C.), Tempax (yield point of 652 ° C.) and Vycor (yield point of 1066 ° C.) are used. High melting point glass materials such as borosilicate glass and zinc aluminum silicate are used.

By using such a high-melting glass, not only plastics that can be used at high temperatures but also optical glasses having a sag point of 600 ° C. or less can be molded to produce optical components. Thus, the yield point temperature is particularly 60
Most optical glasses can be molded if the temperature is 0 ° C. or higher, but if the material can be molded at 300 to 400 ° C. such as lead glass, glass having a sag point of about 500 ° C. can also be used as a mold. it can. In addition, as long as the optical fiber guide molding portion 12 and the plane pattern 10 can be integrally molded, a material such as soda potash glass, crown glass, borosilicate glass, or the like can be used as a base material in addition to the high melting point glass. Is also good.

(Embodiment 2) FIGS. 2 (a) to 2 (a) to 1 (e) show a method of manufacturing an optical element molding die according to the present invention for producing an optical element molding die according to the present invention.
This will be described with reference to FIG. The description will be made below in the order of the symbols attached to the drawings.

(A) An optical fiber guide groove 22 is formed on a cemented carbide substrate 21 with a grinding wheel having a V-shaped cross section. This is referred to as a first mold 23. In FIG. 2A, the number of grooves is one.
However, several tens can be processed without any problem. Grinding apparatuses for performing such processing are commercially available, and by controlling the temperature, the accuracy of the groove pitch, that is, the interval between the V grooves can be adjusted to ± 0.5 μm or less. Regarding the V-shape of the cross section of the optical fiber guide groove 22, the angle of V does not matter.

(B) An optical waveguide pattern groove 25 is formed by performing photolithography and dry etching on the quartz glass substrate 24 having a predetermined thickness by polishing. Regarding the height of the quartz glass substrate by polishing, when the optical fiber is arranged in the optical fiber guide groove 22, the deviation between the center of the optical fiber core and the center of the optical waveguide pattern groove 25 is within ± 1 μm. Height. This is referred to as a second mold 26.

At this time, the depth of the optical fiber guide groove 22 obtained in the step (a) corresponds to the height of the optical fiber guide molded part 12, and the optical waveguide pattern groove 25 obtained in the step (b). Corresponds to the height of the optical waveguide pattern 11. Therefore, the depth of the optical fiber guide groove 22 is deeper than the depth of the waveguide pattern groove 25. Further, it is desirable that the depth of the optical fiber guide groove 22 is several tens of microns or more, and the depth of the optical waveguide pattern 25 is 15 microns or less. In order to obtain the optical element molding die of the first embodiment, the depth of the optical fiber guide groove 22 is set to about 100 microns, and the depth of the waveguide pattern groove 25 is set to about 10 microns.

(C) A body mold 27 is prepared as a third mold for positioning and fixing the first mold 23 and the second mold 26. The outer dimensional accuracy of each of the first mold 23 and the second mold 26 and the dimensional accuracy of the inside of the body mold 27 into which these molds are inserted are made submicron or less, and the body mold 2 placed on a plane
The first die 23 and the second die 26 are inserted into the position 7 for positioning. Thereby, when the optical fiber is disposed in the optical fiber guide groove 22, relative positional accuracy within ± 1 μm in the horizontal direction can be secured as the center deviation between the core center of the optical fiber and the optical waveguide pattern groove 25. This becomes the base material of the master mold 28 for molding the optical element molding die.

The first mold 2 constituting the master mold 28
The third and second dies 26 do not need to be one by one, and a plurality of them may be used in combination.

(D) (not shown) Platinum (Pt), osmium (Os), and iridium (Ir) are applied to the pressed surface of the base material of the master mold 28, that is, the surface in contact with the member to be an optical element. , Rhodium (Rh), rhenium (Re),
Coating a protective film mainly composed of all of ruthenium (Ru), tantalum (Ta), and tungsten (W) components, or a single component, or an arbitrary combination of some components. . Thereby, it is possible to prevent the press surface of the mold from deteriorating during molding. In the case where such a protective film is used, separation of the protective film can be prevented by providing an intermediate layer containing an element contained in the mold or the protective film between the mold and the mold. As a result, a master mold 28 for producing a mold of a glass-based material is completed. This step may be performed before (c).

(E) The high-melting glass is set in a molding machine (not shown), the above-mentioned master mold 28 is set opposite thereto, and heated under an inert gas flow such as nitrogen or argon, or under vacuum. Softens the high melting point glass. The heating temperature is around the softening temperature of the glass (6
00 to 800 ° C). Thereafter, the glass is formed by the master mold 28 and then cooled to take out the glass. This allows
A mold 29 having an inverted shape of the master mold 28 can be manufactured. The mold 29 thus obtained has the same shape as that shown in FIG.

Such a molding die 29 can not only transfer a complicated shape at once to a predetermined substrate on which an optical element is to be formed, but also has high mechanical strength. When molding a fine shape such as an optical waveguide pattern in an optical element by pressing,
Very effective.

The molding die 29 can be obtained at a very low cost by using a master die 28, and setting the high melting point glass in the molding die, and manufacturing the molding die by heating and cooling. The optical element can be manufactured at low cost by molding the optical member with the mold thus obtained.

According to the method described above, a cemented carbide is used as the first mold 23 and quartz glass is used as the second mold 26. However, the first mold 23 is not limited to a material that can be machined and can withstand a high temperature of about 600 to 800 ° C. Similarly, the second mold 26 may be made of a material that can withstand a high temperature of about 600 to 800 ° C. and that has a processing accuracy of a micron level or less by dry etching. Needless to say, the first and second molds 23,
26 may be the same material.

The same procedure as that shown in FIG. 1, that is, an optical fiber molded portion and an optical waveguide pattern having a convex shape can be produced by the procedure for producing the master mold 28 described in the present embodiment. Can be obtained.

In this embodiment, the master mold 28
Although the molding die 29 is integrally molded by a process of setting a high melting point glass, heating and then cooling, the integral molding may be realized by pressing the master mold 28 on the previously heated high melting point glass. In short, the method of manufacturing the mold for an optical element of the present invention is not limited to a specific method of integral molding.

(Embodiment 3) FIGS. 3 (a) to 3 (a) show Embodiment 3 of a method for manufacturing a mold for an optical element of the present invention.
This will be described with reference to FIG. The description will be made below in the order of the symbols attached to the drawings.

(A) An optical fiber guide groove 32 is formed on a cemented carbide substrate 31 with a grinding wheel having a V-shaped cross section. This is referred to as a first mold 33. In FIG. 3A, the number of grooves is one.
However, several tens can be processed without any problem. Grinding machines for performing such processing are commercially available, and by controlling the temperature, the accuracy of the groove pitch, that is, the accuracy of the interval between the V-grooves is ±
0.5 microns or less are possible. Regarding the V-shape of the cross section of the optical fiber guide groove 32, the angle of V does not matter.

(B) A cemented carbide substrate 34 having a predetermined thickness by polishing is manufactured. This is referred to as a second mold 35.
The second mold 35 has at least a plane portion 35a corresponding to the plane pattern 13 of FIG.
The thickness at 5a is set to a predetermined dimension. The thickness of the cemented carbide substrate is adjusted by adjusting the height of the optical waveguide pattern 11 in the mold to be manufactured shown in FIG. 1 and the height of the optical fiber guide molded portion 12 having a V-shaped cross section adjacent thereto by ± 1 μm.
This is for the purpose of matching with m precision.

(C) A body mold 36 is prepared as a third mold for positioning and fixing the first mold 33 and the second mold 35. As shown in FIG.
The mold 33 and the second mold 35 are inserted and positioned. This is the base material of the master mold 37 for molding the optical element mold.

The first mold 3 constituting the master mold 37
The third and second dies 35 need not be provided one by one, and a plurality of them may be used in combination.

(D) (not shown) Next, as in the embodiment, platinum (Pt) and osmium (Pt) are applied to the pressed surface of the base material of the manufactured master mold 37, that is, the surface in contact with the member to be an optical element. Os), iridium (Ir), rhodium (R
h), all components of rhenium (Re), ruthenium (Ru), tantalum (Ta), and tungsten (W), some single components, or any combination of some components. Coating a protective film as a component. Thereby, it is possible to prevent the press surface of the mold from deteriorating during molding. When such a protective film is used, separation of the protective film can be prevented by providing an intermediate layer containing an element contained in the mold or the protective film between the mold and the mold. As a result, a master mold 37 for producing a mold of a glass-based material is completed. This step may be performed before (c).

(E) The high-melting glass is set in a molding machine (not shown), and the above-described master mold is set opposite thereto, and heated under an inert gas flow such as nitrogen or argon, or under vacuum. Softens the high melting point glass. The heating temperature is around the softening temperature of the glass (600 to
800 ° C.). Thereafter, the glass is formed by the master mold 37, and then cooled to take out the glass. As a result, a rough mold 40a having an inverted shape of the master mold 37 can be manufactured. At this time, in the rough mold 40a, the optical fiber forming portion 38 and the plane pattern 39a are formed.

(F) Planar pattern 39a of the rough mold 40a
Then, photolithography and dry etching are performed to form an optical waveguide pattern 39b. At this time, the horizontal position between the optical waveguide pattern 39b and the optical fiber forming section 38 also needs to be ± 1 μm, but the horizontal positioning can be adjusted by adjusting the photomask at the time of photolithography.

The mold 40 thus obtained has the same shape as that shown in FIG. That is, the optical fiber forming section 38 corresponds to the optical fiber guide forming section 12, the plane pattern 39a corresponds to the plane pattern 10a, and the optical waveguide pattern 39b corresponds to the optical waveguide pattern 11.

Such a mold 40 not only allows a complicated shape to be transferred at a time to a predetermined substrate on which an optical element is to be formed by a pressing process, but also has high mechanical strength. When molding a fine shape such as an optical waveguide pattern in an optical element by pressing,
Very effective.

Further, as the molding die 40, a master die 37 is used, and a high melting point glass is set therein.
By forming the optical waveguide pattern 39b by dry etching, a mold can be obtained at very low cost.
Further, the optical element can be manufactured at low cost by molding the optical member with the mold 40 thus obtained.

It is to be noted that the same shape as that of FIG. 1, that is, the optical fiber molded portion and the optical waveguide pattern having a convex shape can be produced by the procedure for producing the master mold 28 described in the present embodiment. Can be obtained.

In this embodiment, the master type 37
Although the rough mold 40a is integrally molded by a process of setting a high melting point glass, heating and then cooling, the integral molding may be realized by pressing the master mold 37 on the previously heated high melting point glass. In short, the step of integral molding in the method for producing a mold for an optical element of the present invention is not limited to a specific method.

(Embodiment 4) FIGS. 4 (a) to 4 (a) show a fourth embodiment of a method for manufacturing a mold for an optical element of the present invention.
This will be described with reference to FIG. The description will be made below in the order of the symbols attached to the drawings.

(A) An optical fiber guide groove 42 is formed on a quartz glass substrate 41 with a grinding wheel having a V-shaped cross section.
This is referred to as a first mold 43. In FIG. 4A, the number of grooves is one, but about several tens can be machined without any problem. Grinding apparatuses for performing such processing are commercially available, and by controlling the temperature, the accuracy of the groove pitch, that is, the interval between the V grooves can be adjusted to ± 0.5 μm or less. Regarding the V-shape of the cross section of the optical fiber guide groove 42, the angle of V does not matter.

(B) A quartz glass substrate 44 having a predetermined thickness by polishing is manufactured. This is referred to as a second mold 45. The second mold 45 has at least a plane portion 45a corresponding to the plane pattern 13 in FIG. 1, and the thickness of the plane portion 45a is set to a predetermined size. The thickness of the quartz glass substrate is adjusted by adjusting the height of the optical waveguide pattern 11 in the molding die to be manufactured and the height of the optical fiber guide molding portion 12 having a V-shaped cross section adjacent thereto.
This is for the purpose of 1 μm precision.

(C) A lower die 46 having a smooth surface is prepared as a third die for positioning and fixing the first die 43 and the second die 45. On the lower mold 46, put the first mold 4
3. The second mold 45 is directly joined and fixed. This is the base material of the master mold 47 for molding the optical element molding die.

The first mold 4 constituting the master mold 47
Third, the second mold 45 does not need to be one by one, and a plurality of them may be used in combination.

(D) (not shown) Next, platinum (Pt), osmium (Os), iridium (Ir), Rhodium (Rh), rhenium (Re), ruthenium (Ru), tantalum (Ta), tungsten (W), all or some single components, or any combination of some components Is coated with a protective film mainly composed of Thereby, it is possible to prevent the press surface of the mold from deteriorating during molding. When such a protective film is used, separation of the protective film can be prevented by providing an intermediate layer containing an element contained in the mold or the protective film between the mold and the mold. As a result, a master mold 4 for producing a mold of a glass-based material is obtained.
7 is completed.

(E) The high-melting glass is set in a molding machine (not shown), the above-described master mold is set to face the same, and heated under an inert gas flow such as nitrogen or argon, or under vacuum. Softens the high melting point glass. The heating temperature is around the softening temperature of the high melting point glass (6
00 to 800 ° C). Thereafter, the glass is formed by the master mold 47 and then cooled to take out the high melting point glass. Thereby, the rough mold 50a having the inverted shape of the master mold 47 can be manufactured. At this time, in the rough mold 40a, the optical fiber forming section 48 and the plane pattern 49a are formed.

(F) Photolithography and dry etching are performed on the plane pattern 49a of the rough mold 50a to form an optical waveguide pattern 49b. At this time, the horizontal position between the optical waveguide pattern 49b and the optical fiber forming section 48 also needs to be ± 1 μm, but the horizontal positioning can be adjusted by adjusting the photomask at the time of photolithography.

The mold 50 thus obtained has the same shape as that shown in FIG. That is, the optical fiber forming section 48 corresponds to the optical fiber guide forming section 12, the plane pattern 49a corresponds to the plane pattern 10a, and the optical waveguide pattern 49b corresponds to the optical waveguide pattern 11.

Such a mold 50 not only allows a complicated shape to be transferred at a time to a predetermined substrate on which an optical element is to be formed by a pressing process, but also has a high mechanical strength. When molding a fine shape such as an optical waveguide pattern in an optical element by pressing,
Very effective.

The molding die 50 is prepared by using a master die 47, setting a high melting point glass therein, heating, and then cooling to form a rough die 50a.
By forming the optical waveguide pattern 49b by dry etching, a mold can be obtained at very low cost.
Further, the optical element can be manufactured at low cost by molding the optical member with the mold 50 thus obtained.

In the third embodiment described above, the first mold 3
3. A cemented carbide is used as the second mold 35, and quartz glass is used as the first mold 43 and the second mold 45 in the fourth embodiment. However, the first mold can be machined,
The material is not limited to this as long as the material can withstand a high temperature of about 600 to 800 ° C. Similarly, as the second type, 6
Any material that can withstand a high temperature of about 00 to 800 ° C. may be used.
Further, the first and second molds may not be made of the same material.

In each embodiment, the optical fiber guide grooves 22, 32, 42 are not limited to the V-shape, but may be rectangular, semicircular, trapezoidal, or the like.

The material of the optical element molded using the optical element molding die of the present embodiment is not limited. For example, any material that is softened by heat, such as resin or glass, may be used.
Further, similarly to the master mold, when used for molding a glass-based material, platinum (Pt), osmium (Os), iridium (Ir), rhodium (Rh), rhenium (Re), ruthenium (Ru) ), Tantalum (T
a), if a protective film containing at least one of tungsten (W) as a main component is coated,
Deterioration of the press surface of the mold for optical elements can be prevented. In the case where such a protective film is used, separation of the protective film can be prevented by providing an intermediate layer containing an element contained in the mold or the protective film between the mold and the mold.

As described above, if an optical element molding die as described above is manufactured and an optical element is formed using the optical element molding die, the optical element can be manufactured very efficiently.
It goes without saying that the present invention is useful not only for the simultaneous molding of the optical waveguide pattern and the optical fiber guide described in the present embodiment but also for all optical elements that require a shape having a large dimensional difference.

Further, in the master mold and the molding die of the present invention, the press surface may have the above-described material and configuration, and the other components may be made of other materials.

Although the present embodiment has described a single-mode optical waveguide, a molding die and a master die for an optical fiber, the present invention is particularly effective for a single mode. It is also effective for optical fibers.

Although the optical waveguide pattern shape has been described using the example of the rectangular groove, it is effective regardless of the uneven shape.

In each of the above embodiments, the base 10 corresponds to the base of the present invention, and the optical fiber guide forming portions 12, 38, and 48 correspond to the second forming pattern of the present invention. The wave patterns 11, 39b, and 49b correspond to the first forming pattern of the present invention, and the planar patterns 10a,
9a and 49a correspond to the third molding pattern of the present invention. The optical fiber guide grooves 22, 32, and 42 correspond to the fifth forming pattern of the present invention, the optical waveguide pattern groove 25 corresponds to the fourth forming pattern of the present invention, and the plane patterns 35a and 45a correspond to the present invention. This corresponds to the sixth forming pattern of (1). Also, in the above-described embodiment, the first optical component of the present invention is a waveguide, and the second optical component is an optical fiber guide groove. The optical component means that the depth of the optical path of the second optical component is deeper than the optical path of the first optical component.
The function is not limited to this. The first optical component may be other than the optical waveguide, and the second optical component may be other than the optical fiber guide groove. May be a molding die for an optical element or a method for producing the same.

[0082]

As is apparent from the above description, according to the present invention, a mold for an optical element capable of producing an optical element having a complicated surface shape in large quantities at low cost, and a method of manufacturing the same. Etc. are obtained.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a mold for an optical element according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a view showing each step of a method for manufacturing a mold for an optical element according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a view showing each step of a method for manufacturing a mold for an optical element according to a third embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing each step of a method for manufacturing a mold for an optical element according to a fourth embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a configuration diagram of a conventional general optical mounting circuit board.

[Explanation of symbols]

Reference Signs List 10 base 10a, 35a, 39a, 45a, 49a Planar pattern 11, 39b, 49b Optical waveguide pattern 12, 38, 48 Optical fiber guide molded part 21, 31, 34 Cemented carbide substrate 22, 32, 42 Optical fiber guide groove 23, 33, 43 First mold 24, 41, 44 Quartz glass substrate 25 Optical waveguide pattern groove 26, 35, 45 Second mold 27, 36 Body mold 28, 39, 49 Master mold 40a, 50a Coarse mold 46 Lower Mold 51 Silicon substrate 52 Optical waveguide 53 Optical fiber 54 V-groove block 55 Laser diode 56 Photodiode 57 Electric circuit pattern

──────────────────────────────────────────────────の Continued on the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁷ Identification symbol FI Theme coat ゛ (Reference) G02B 6/13 B29L 11:00 // B29L 11:00 G02B 6/12 M (72) Inventor Yoshinori Shiratoh Osaka 1006, Kazuma, Kadoma, Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Hiroyuki Asakura 1006, Kazuma, Kadoma, Kazuma, Osaka Prefecture F-term (reference) 2H037 AA01 BA24 DA04 DA06 DA12 2H047 KA03 MA05 PA26 QA07 TA41 4F202 AH73 AJ06 CD02 CD03

Claims (11)

[Claims] 1. A base, a first forming pattern for forming a first optical component having a predetermined optical path provided in the base, and a first forming pattern having an optical path deeper than the predetermined optical path. And a second molding pattern for molding the second optical component. The first molding pattern, the second molding pattern, and the base are pressed against a predetermined substrate to form the predetermined substrate. An optical element molding die for molding into an optical element, wherein the base, the first molding pattern, and the second molding pattern are integrally molded. 2. A base, a first forming pattern for forming a first optical component having a predetermined optical path provided in the base shape, and a first forming pattern having an optical path deeper than the predetermined optical path. And a second molding pattern for molding the second optical component. The first molding pattern, the second molding pattern, and the base are pressed against a predetermined substrate to form the predetermined substrate. An optical element molding die for molding into an optical element, wherein the base, the second molding pattern, and a third molding pattern for forming the first molding pattern are integrally molded; By processing the molding pattern of No. 3, the first
A molding die for an optical element on which a molding pattern is formed. 3. The method for manufacturing a mold for an optical element according to claim 1, wherein a fourth base corresponding to the first forming pattern is provided on a predetermined base.
Forming a molding pattern by forming a fifth molding pattern corresponding to the second molding pattern to form a mold; using the mold, the base, the first molding pattern And a step of integrally molding the second molding pattern. 4. The method of manufacturing a molding die for an optical element according to claim 2, wherein a fifth base corresponding to the second molding pattern is provided on a predetermined base.
Forming a molding pattern and forming a sixth molding pattern corresponding to the third molding pattern to form a mold; and using the mold, the base and the second molding pattern. And a step of integrally molding the third molding pattern; and a step of processing the third molding pattern to form the first molding pattern. 5. The mold for an optical element according to claim 3, wherein the first optical component is for accommodating an optical waveguide, and the second component is for an optical fiber. Manufacturing method. . 6. The base according to claim 3, wherein the base is made of a high melting point glass.
Or the method for producing a mold for an optical element according to 4. 7. The method according to claim 3, wherein the high melting point glass has a yield point of 600 ° C. or higher. . 8. At least platinum (Pt), osmium (Os), iridium (Ir),
Rhodium (Rh), rhenium (Re), ruthenium (R
5. The method of manufacturing a mold for an optical element according to claim 3, wherein a protective film mainly containing all or a part of u), tantalum (Ta), and tungsten (W) is coated. 9. The method according to claim 3, wherein the depth of the first optical path is 15 μm or less, and the depth of the second optical path is several tens μm or more. Method. 10. An optical element molding die according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the optical element molding die is pressed against a resin that has been heated and softened, thereby forming the optical element molding die on the resin. An optical element manufacturing method for manufacturing an optical element by transferring an inverted shape. 11. An optical element manufactured using the optical element molding die according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the optical element molding die is pressed on a resin that has been heated and softened. An optical element manufactured by transferring an inverted shape of the optical element molding die to a resin.