JP2003177256A - Optical connecting component and its manufacturing method - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a highly flexible optical connecting component capable of easily connecting optical parts such as optical element, an optical circuit package and an optical circuit device, and laying/storing a large number of optical fibers, and also to provide its manufacturing method. <P>SOLUTION: The optical connecting component is equipped with a flexible filmy base material 1 having a two-dimensional plane and with a plurality of flexible resin protective layers 2, 8 provided on both sides of the filmy base material. At least on one side of the filmy base material 1, a plurality of optical fibers 4 are wired having an optically connecting terminal part at the end and fixed with the resin protective layer 2. This optical connecting component is manufactured by wiring optical fibers on one side of the filmy base material, forming a first resin protective layer on it, and then a second resin protective layer made of a resin material which is the same as or different from that of the first layer is formed on the other side of the filmy base material. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2003,JPO

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an optical connection component for interconnecting optical elements, components, and devices used for optical communication such as optical devices, optical circuit packages, optical circuit devices, and optical information processing. Optical wiring board) and its manufacturing method.

[0002]

[Prior art]

[0003]

[Patent Document 1] Japanese Patent No. 2574611.

[Patent Document 2] US Pat. No. 5,292,390.

[Patent Document 3] Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 10-68853.

In the connection of a plurality of optical elements in an optical circuit package, the mutual connection of a plurality of optical circuit packages, or the optical connection of an optical circuit device in which the optical circuit package is mounted, an optical element, an optical circuit package, and an optical element are generally used. An optical connector is arranged at an end of a circuit device or the like and connected to each other by an optical fiber. In that case, since the optical fiber needs to be arranged with an extra length, for example, on the optical circuit package or inside and / or on the back surface of the optical circuit device, complicated wiring by the optical fiber has a bird's nest shape, Or, it is congested and stretched, and for that reason, it occupies a large space. For an optical connection method that requires a great deal of place and labor for connection due to such complicated wiring, it is easy to solve these problems by arbitrarily wiring the optical fiber on a two-dimensional plane. A method has been proposed. For example, as disclosed in Japanese Patent No. 2574611, there has been proposed an optical connecting component which uses an adhesive-coated sheet or substrate and thereby fixes an optical fiber.

By the way, the optical connecting part described in Japanese Patent No. 2574611 is manufactured in the range of 25 to 20 when it is manufactured.
An optical fiber is laid on a polymer film base (base layer) made of flexible Mylar or Kapton with a thickness of 0 μm or on a fiber jacket by an adhesive to form a wiring pattern on the base. Is coated with a material similar to the material used for the base material to obtain an optical connection component. However, in the optical connection part manufactured by this method, a polymer base material having a small elongation is provided above and below a layer consisting of an optical fiber and an adhesive and having a thickness of several hundred μm to several mm, but having flexibility. Since the polymer base material is exposed on the surface layer, there is a problem that flexibility required for the optical connecting component is lowered. In the optical connecting part described in Japanese Patent No. 2574611, in order to avoid the difficulty of the optical connecting work due to such rigidity, a long extending tab is provided in the optical connecting portion, but such a tab is long. The elongation results in an increase in the location of the connecting portion and also in the complexity of manufacturing the optical connecting component.

Further, US Pat. No. 5,292,390 discloses a method of filling a layer of optical fiber wiring laid with thermoplastic polyurethane for the purpose of fixing and protecting the optical fiber. However, even with this method,
Although it has plasticity, it uses a small stretch Kapton film as the base material of the adhesive layer that fixes the optical fiber and the base material of the thermoplastic polyurethane layer.
The optical fiber wiring layer is sandwiched between these films,
And because the Kapton film is exposed on the surface,
The problem of reduced flexibility has not been solved. Further, in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 10-68853, an optical fiber is laid on a laminate in which a compressive layer is provided on a film base material and an adhesive layer, and an optical fiber wiring layer is sandwiched between the laminates to form an optical fiber. It has been shown to make connection parts. However, the layer having compressibility in the invention is provided for the purpose of relieving the pressure applied to the optical fiber at the time of producing the optical connection component, and the film base material exists in the surface layer of the laminate on both sides of the optical fiber wiring. Therefore, the problem that the flexibility of the optical connecting component is lowered has not been solved.

As described above, in the conventional optical connection part in which the optical fiber using the flexible base material is laid and wired,
Film substrates such as Mylar or Kapton are provided on both sides of the two-dimensionally wired optical fiber layer. Therefore, since such a film base material is provided on both sides of the optical fiber wiring layer having a thickness of several hundred μm to several mm, and exposed to the surface layer, the flexibility of the optical connecting component is significantly reduced. However, it is necessary to provide long elongated tabs for optical connection. Further, in the case of connecting the optical elements on the optical circuit package or the optical circuit packages to each other, when the space for installing the optical connection parts is small, flexibility,
It cannot be used due to lack of flexibility.

On the other hand, when connecting and accommodating a large number of optical fibers in a limited space, an optical connecting component such as an optical wiring board is an effective and indispensable component. If the number is increased, it becomes difficult to lay and house all the optical fibers on one plane of the substrate. The reason for this is that if a larger number of optical fibers are laid and accommodated on one flat surface of the base material, the laid optical fibers will converge and the overlapping portions of the optical fibers will increase, and at the overlapping portions, the optical fibers will overlap. This is because the contact area with the adhesive that fixes the wire is reduced, and it becomes impossible to lay the wire with good positional accuracy. Further, if a larger number of optical fibers are laid and housed on one plane, the density of the terminal end portion provided for optical connection to the end portion becomes high, and the space required for connector connection or the like cannot be physically secured. Occurs. In order to solve such a problem, it is effective to stack the base material in which the optical fiber is wired, but since the flexibility is lost when stacked, it has the flexibility necessary for the optical wiring board, and The reality is that a multilayer optical wiring board has not yet been obtained. Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 10-68853 discloses an example in which optical fibers are laid on both sides of a laminate provided with a layer having compressibility, which is used for optical fibers in the manufacture of optical wiring boards. It is provided for the purpose of relieving such pressure, and is not for the purpose of accommodating a larger number of optical fibers.

[0009]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made for the purpose of solving the above-mentioned problems in the prior art. That is, an object of the present invention is to enable connection of optical components such as an optical element, an optical circuit package, an optical circuit device, etc., as described above, and to provide a flexible housing capable of accommodating a large number of optical fibers. An object is to provide a high optical connection component and a method for manufacturing the same.

[0010]

The optical connecting part of the present invention is provided with a resin protective layer on both front and back surfaces and is sandwiched between resin protective layers without exposing a film-like substrate such as Mylar or Kapton. It exists. That is, the optical connecting component of the present invention has a flexible film-like base material having a two-dimensional plane, and a plurality of flexible resin protective layers provided on both sides of the film-like base material. A plurality of optical fibers having terminal portions for optical connection to the end portions are wired on the film-shaped substrate and fixed by a resin protective layer. In the optical connecting component of the present invention, a plurality of flexible film-shaped substrates may be present. In that case, each film-shaped substrate is sandwiched between the resin protective layers to form a laminate.

In the present invention, the optical connecting component having one film-like substrate is a terminal portion for optically connecting to an end of an optical fiber on one surface of a flexible film-like substrate having a two-dimensional plane. A plurality of optical fibers are wired to form a first resin protective layer having flexibility so that the wired optical fibers are fixed, and then, on the other surface of the film-shaped substrate, A method comprising forming a flexible second resin protective layer made of the same or different resin material as the resin protective layer, or after forming the first resin protective layer as described above, the film-shaped substrate On the other surface of the material, a plurality of optical fibers are wired so as to have an end portion for optical connection to the end of the optical fiber, and the same or different from the resin protective layer so that the wired optical fibers are fixed. Made of resin material It can be prepared by a method consisting of forming a second resin protective layer having FLEXIBLE.

Further, in the present invention, the optical connecting part having two film-shaped substrates is a flexible structure having a two-dimensional plane on one resin protective layer of the optical connecting part produced as described above. A flexible film-like base material by adhesion, etc., and wiring a plurality of optical fibers on the film-like base material so as to have an end portion for optical connection to the end portion of the optical fiber, and the wired optical fiber So that
It can be manufactured by a method of forming a flexible third resin protective layer to form a laminate. By repeating this step of forming the third resin protective layer, a laminated structure composed of a plurality of film-shaped base materials and a plurality of resin protective layers to which optical fibers are fixed is formed, and a large number of optical fibers are wired. It is possible to produce an optical connecting component in which the film-shaped substrate of (1) is present.

For the optical connecting part having a plurality of film-like base materials, the resin protective layers of the optical connecting part having one film-like base material prepared as described above are adhered to each other. It can also be manufactured by forming a laminate. Further, the resin protective layer of the present invention may be produced by providing a weir on the periphery of the film-shaped substrate or in the vicinity of the periphery, and filling the inside of the formed weir with a resin material and solidifying the resin. it can.

[0014]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a partially crushed plan view of an example of the optical connecting component of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view thereof, and shows a case where there is one film-shaped substrate, and FIG.
[Fig. 3] is a cross-sectional view of another example in the case of one film-shaped substrate. In FIGS. 1 and 2, a plurality of optical fibers 4 are wired on one surface of a flexible film-like substrate 1 having a two-dimensional plane via an adhesive layer 3.
Are fixed by the first resin protective layer 2 having flexibility. On the other surface of the film-shaped substrate 1, a flexible second resin protective layer 8 made of the same or different material as the resin material of the first resin protective layer 2 is provided. The end portion of the optical fiber 4 serves as a terminal portion 5 for optical connection, and an optical component 6, for example, an optical connector is connected thereto. The end portion 5 and the optical component 6 may be integrated. Reference numeral 7 is a dam-like material provided to form the resin protective layer.

In FIG. 3, a plurality of optical fibers 4 are wired on both sides of a film-shaped substrate 1 with an adhesive layer 3 interposed therebetween, and each has a flexible first resin protective layer 2 and a second resin protective layer 2. It is fixed by the resin protective layer 8.

4 to 6 are cross-sectional views of an example of the optical connecting component of the present invention in which a plurality of film-shaped substrates are present. In FIG. 4, the second film-shaped substrate 1a is laminated on the surface of the second resin protective layer 8 of the optical connection component shown in FIG. 2 via the adhesive layer 3, and a plurality of light beams are formed thereon. The fiber 4 is wired and fixed by the third resin protective layer 9 having flexibility. FIG. 5 shows a case where the two optical connection components A and B shown in FIG. 2 are laminated to form a laminated body, in which the respective second resin protective layers 8 are provided via the adhesive layer 3. 8 is attached. FIG. 6 shows a case where the two optical connecting components A and B shown in FIG. 3 are laminated to form a laminated body, and the first resin of one optical connecting component is interposed via the adhesive layer 3. The protective layer 2 and the second resin protective layer 8 of the other optical connection component are attached.

FIG. 7 shows the case where three film-shaped substrates are present, and the third resin protective layer 9 of the optical component of FIG. 3 of film-like base materials 1b are laminated, and a plurality of optical fibers 4
And a flexible fourth resin protective layer 1
It is fixed by 0.

In the optical connecting component of the present invention, the flexible film-like substrate having a two-dimensional plane for supporting the wired optical fiber is not particularly limited.
For example, a glass-epoxy resin composite substrate, a polyester film, a polyimide film, a silicone or urethane rubber or foam, etc., which has a certain degree of flexibility, and which is a base material used in ordinary electronic parts and electric parts. Anything can be used.

The optical fiber wired in the present invention is appropriately selected and used according to the application purpose of the optical connecting component, and for example, quartz or plastic single mode optical fiber, multimode optical fiber, etc. are preferably used. It Also, the optical fiber is preferably a carbon-coated optical fiber. Generally, the major factor that determines the life of an optical fiber is the intrusion of water and hydrogen in the atmosphere, but the carbon-coated optical fiber is highly reliable and has a long life because the ingress of water and hydrogen is suppressed. is there. In addition, in the optical connecting component of the present invention, since a cable jacket that gives environmental resistance such as a normal optical cable is not provided, it is more effective to use a carbon coated optical fiber having high reliability.

As an optical fiber wiring method in the present invention, the method of providing an adhesive layer on a film-shaped substrate and wiring is the simplest. However, the optical fiber wiring method is appropriately selected according to the purpose of application. It suffices to do so, and the optical fiber may be wired so as to have a terminal portion for optical connection at the end. For example, it is possible to wire the optical fiber by providing a projection, a concave shape or the like on the film base material, or by providing an adhesive layer on the outer cover of the optical fiber.

As the adhesive forming the adhesive layer for wiring the optical fiber, as long as it has an adhesive force for maintaining the shape of the optical fiber corresponding to the tension generated by the bending of the optical fiber to be wired. , You can use anything,
For example, various pressure-sensitive adhesives (adhesives) such as urethane-based, acrylic-based, epoxy-based, nylon-based, phenol-based, polyimide-based, vinyl-based, silicone-based, rubber-based, fluorinated epoxy-based, fluorinated acrylic-based, etc. Thermoplastic adhesive,
A thermosetting adhesive can be used. A pressure sensitive adhesive and a thermoplastic adhesive are preferably used because of the ease of wiring the optical fiber.

The resin constituting the flexible resin protective layer in the optical connecting part of the present invention is not particularly limited, but it is a gel or rubber organic material, an ultraviolet curable resin, an electron beam. A curable resin such as a curable resin or a thermosetting resin having flexibility, a flexible thermoplastic resin, or the like is used. More specifically, examples of the gel-like organic material include silicone gel, acrylic resin gel, and fluororesin gel. Examples of the rubber-like organic material include silicone rubber, urethane rubber, and fluorine-based rubber. Rubber, acrylic rubber, ethylene-acrylic rubber,
Examples thereof include SBR, BR, NBR and chloroprene rubber. Examples of the flexible curable resin include epoxy resin, ultraviolet curable adhesive, and silicone resin. Examples of the flexible thermoplastic resin include resins that form hot-melt adhesives such as acrylic resins such as polyvinyl acetate and polyethyl methacrylate, vinylidene chloride resins, polyvinyl butyral resins, and polyamide resins.

If necessary, a protective layer may be provided on the resin protective layer which will be the surface of the optical connecting component, as long as the flexibility required for using the optical connecting component is not impaired. As the protective layer, for example, a silicone-based hard coat material is used.

In the optical connecting part of the present invention, normally,
For connection with the optical connector, the optical fiber extends from a desired position (port) on the end face of the optical connection component to form a terminal portion, to which the optical connector is connected or is connected to the optical connector. It is fusion-spliced with the optical fiber.
The optical connector connected to the optical connecting component of the present invention is not particularly limited, but a single-core or multi-core small-sized optical connector is preferably selected. For example, MPO optical connector, MT optical connector, MU optical connector, FPC optical connector (NTT
R & D, Vol. 45 No. 6, pages 589) or V-groove parts used for optical connection. In addition,
The method of connecting the optical connector is not limited in any way, and the end portion and the optical connector may be integrated.

In the present invention, an optical connecting component having one film-shaped substrate is manufactured as follows. For example, first, an optical fiber is wired in a desired pattern by using the adhesive on one surface of a flexible film-shaped substrate having a two-dimensional plane. At that time, the end of the optical fiber becomes a terminal part for optical connection with an optical connector,
It is pulled out from the film substrate. As a method of providing the adhesive layer, on the film-shaped substrate, in a state where the adhesive is directly or dissolved in a solvent to form a coating solution,
Roll coating, bar coating, blade coating, casting, dispenser coating, spray coating, screen printing, and other methods for providing an adhesive layer, and an adhesive layer previously formed on the peelable film A method is used in which the adhesive sheet is attached to the film-shaped substrate and then the peelable film is removed. The thickness of the adhesive layer may be appropriately selected and used depending on the diameter of the optical fiber to be wired, but is usually 1 μm to 1 mm, preferably 5 to 500 μm,
More preferably, it is set in the range of 10 to 300 μm.

After forming a first resin protective layer using a flexible resin material for forming a resin protective layer on the optical fiber wired as described above, the film-shaped substrate is then formed. On the other surface, a flexible second resin protective layer is formed using the same or different resin material as the resin protective layer. Alternatively, after forming the first resin protective layer as described above, on the other surface of the film-shaped substrate, a plurality of optical fibers are wired so as to have a terminal portion for optical connection to the optical fiber end portion, A second resin protective layer having flexibility is formed by using the same or different resin material as the resin protective layer so that the wired optical fiber is fixed in a buried state.

Here, the thickness of the resin protective layer in the case where the optical fiber is wired is appropriately selected depending on the diameter of the optical fiber to be wired and the number of overlaps thereof to protect the optical fiber.
It should be fixed. Usually, a thickness of (optical fiber diameter) × (number of overlaps) or more is required. Also,
The thickness of the resin protective layer when the optical fiber is not wired is
Depending on the purpose of using the optical connecting component, the film-shaped substrate may be appropriately selected and used with a film thickness that relaxes the rigidity, but it is usually about 1 μm to several cm, preferably 1 μm.
0 μm to 10 mm, more preferably 30 μm to 1 mm
It is set to the range of.

The simplest method of providing a resin protective layer on a film-shaped substrate is to provide a weir-like material on or near the periphery of the film-shaped substrate, and to form a resin material inside the formed weir-shaped material. And then solidify. For example, a resin material is dissolved in an appropriate solvent to form a coating solution, which is dropped and dried, a thermosetting resin in a liquid state is dropped and cured by heating, a moisture-curable resin in a liquid state or anaerobic. -Curable resin is dropped and cured by giving moisture or blocking gas at room temperature, thermoplastic resin melted by heating is dropped and solidified by cooling, solid resin material is weired The resin protective layer can be formed by, for example, a method in which the resin protective layer is filled in the inner part, heated and melted, and then solidified.

The weir-like material may be generally provided at or near the periphery of the film-shaped substrate over the entire circumference thereof. However, when mounting optical components such as optical connectors, optical modules, optical devices, etc. near the periphery of the film-shaped substrate, when these optical components function as a weir, the optical components are mounted. It is not necessary to provide a weir-like object in the formed portion.

The material forming the dam-like material is not particularly limited and may be appropriately selected according to the application purpose of the optical connecting component, but is preferably polyethylene, polypropylene, nylon or the like. Nonwoven fabrics made of organic fibers, nonwoven fabrics made of glass fibers, and sealing agents (fillers) made of silicone-based, epoxy-based, urethane-based, or acrylic-based resins are preferably used. The weir is
The size and shape are not limited as long as the resin material with which the inside is filled does not flow out.

Further, in the present invention, the optical connecting part having two film-shaped substrates can be manufactured as follows. That is, an adhesive layer is provided on one of the resin protective layers of the optical connecting part produced as described above, and the second film-shaped substrate is adhered to the second film-shaped substrate. An adhesive layer is provided on the exposed surface of, and the optical fiber is wired in a desired pattern thereon. Then, a third resin protective layer having flexibility so as to fix the wired optical fiber is formed by using the same or different resin material as that used for the first or second resin protective layer. To do. As a result, it is possible to form a laminate including two film-shaped base materials and three resin protective layers. Further, by repeating the step of forming the third resin protective layer, it is possible to manufacture an optical connecting component having a large number of film-shaped substrates on which optical fibers are wired.

Alternatively, a film-shaped substrate provided with an adhesive layer on both sides in advance may be used, and by attaching it to a resin protective layer, an optical fiber having an optically connectable optical fiber layer of a multilayer structure may be used. It is also possible to make a connection part.

Further, a plurality of optical connection parts in which the film-shaped base material is sandwiched between the resin protection layers having flexibility are prepared in advance by the above-mentioned method, and the resin protection layers of the plurality of optical connection parts are joined to each other. It is also possible to form a laminated body by sticking. For example, by directly providing an adhesive layer on the surface of the resin protective layer of the one optical connection component, or by transferring the adhesive layer to the resin protective layer surface using an adhesive sheet provided with an adhesive layer in advance, An optical connection component having an optical connectable optical fiber layer having a multi-layer structure can also be produced by providing an adhesive layer and then placing another optical connection component on the adhesive layer and adhering the same. By repeating the above operation, it is also possible to manufacture an optical connecting component made of a laminate having a multilayer structure.

In the optical connecting component of the present invention produced as described above, an optical component such as an optical connector or an optical module is joined to the terminal end portion of the drawn optical fiber. For example, the end portion of the optical fiber whose end face is processed to be connected to the optical connector is connected to the optical connector, or an optical fiber end face fixed to the optical connector,
An end face of each optical fiber drawn out from the optical fiber wiring member is fusion-spliced.

[0035]

EXAMPLES The present invention will be described below with reference to examples.
The present invention is not limited to this. Example 1 A film-shaped substrate (size 210 mm × 297 mm) was prepared by coating an acrylic pressure-sensitive adhesive on one surface of a 125 μm-thick polyimide film so as to have a thickness of 100 μm. An optical fiber core wire (Furukawa Electric Co., Ltd., carbon coated optical fiber, diameter of 250 μm) was connected to the port (portion of the optical fiber taken out from the optical connecting member) as follows. That is, 16 optical fibers are arranged in parallel at a pitch of 300 μm, and 8 ports each (each port is composed of 16 optical fibers) are 25 mm on both sides of the short side of the polyimide film.
It was made with a pitch. Each optical fiber is wired from one short side of the polyimide film to the other short side, and the wiring to each port on both sides is the desired free access wiring (128) for each optical fiber by design. The wiring was adjusted so that the maximum number of overlaps was three.

Then, a weir-like material having a width of 5 mm and a thickness of 1 mm was formed on the peripheral portion of the polyimide film on which the optical fibers were wired, using a non-woven fabric made of polypropylene fiber (P100SW-00X manufactured by Tonen Tapirus Co., Ltd.). Then
A silicone gel coating solution (SE-1880 manufactured by Toray Dow Corning Co., Ltd.) is dropped on the inside thereof, and the silicone gel is cured under the condition of 120 ° C. for 1 hour to form a first resin protective layer. Was fixed by its resin protective layer. Then, a second resin protective layer was formed on the back surface of the polyimide film. That is, a nonwoven fabric made of polypropylene fiber (PO40SW-00 manufactured by Tonen Tapils Co., Ltd.
X) is used to form a weir having a width of 5 mm and a thickness of 0.45 mm, and a silicone gel coating solution (SE-1880 manufactured by Dow Corning Toray Co., Ltd.) is dropped on the inside of the weir and is kept at 120 ° C. for 1 hour. The silicone gel was cured under the conditions to form a second resin protective layer, and an optical wiring board having a thickness of 1.7 mm was produced. After that, an MU connector was connected to the end of the drawn optical fiber to obtain an optical wiring board as a final product.

In this optical wiring board, since the polyimide film is sandwiched by the flexible resin protective layers formed of silicone gel, the rigidity of the polyimide film is relaxed, and it is flexible and flexible, and It was flat without problems such as curling. Therefore, even when a very fragile optical fiber whose coating is removed by treating the end face for connecting to the optical connector is connected to the MU connector, the optical fiber whose coating is removed should be connected to the MU connector without damage. I was able to.

When this optical wiring board was used to connect boards in a rack in a very limited space, the optical wiring board was flexible and supple,
The optical connector attached to the optical wiring board and the optical connector pulled out from the wiring inside the board could be easily connected. Furthermore, the above-mentioned optical wiring board produced has a radius of 1
When it was bent 180 ° with a curvature of 5 mm, the optical wiring board could be easily bent without being broken, and no damage was left on the optical fiber.

When the loss of all the connected optical fibers was measured, the loss of 0.
It was 7 dB or less. Further, when the produced optical wiring board was subjected to a high temperature and humidity test of leaving it at 75 ° C. and 90% RH for 5000 hours and a temperature cycle test of -40 ° C. to 75 ° C. for 500 times, both changes and fluctuations in optical loss were observed. It was 0.2 dB or less, and was found to be sufficiently usable as an optical connecting part.

Embodiment 2 In Embodiment 1, each port is composed of eight optical fibers, an MT connector (8-fiber optical connector) is used in place of the MU connector, and only one side is MT before the optical fiber is wired. Using a connector, a nylon non-woven fabric having a width of 5 mm and a thickness of 500 μm (NO50SS-00 manufactured by Tonen Tapils Co., Ltd.) was used instead of the polypropylene non-woven fabric.
X) as a resin protective layer material, an epoxy resin (manufactured by Kyoei Yushi Co., Ltd., Epolite 400E) and a curing agent equivalent to the epoxy resin (manufactured by Yuka Shell Co., Epomate B0).
02) using an epoxy resin coating solution consisting of
The thickness was set to 1. in the same manner as in Example 1 except that the optical fibers were hardened for a time and the total number of all the optical fibers was 64 and the maximum overlap of the optical fibers was 2.
A 2 mm optical wiring board was produced.

Then, an MT connector was connected to the end of the drawn optical fiber to manufacture an optical wiring board as a final product. In this optical wiring board, the polyimide film is sandwiched between the epoxy resin protective layers having plasticity, so that the rigidity of the polyimide film is alleviated, the polyimide film is supple and flexible, and there is no problem such as curling and is flat. It was Therefore, end-face treatment to connect to the optical connector,
Even when the extremely fragile optical fiber with the coating removed was connected to the MT connector at the same time, the optical fiber with the coating removed could be connected to the MT connector without damage.

Further, since this optical wiring board is flexible and supple, when it was used for connection between boards in a rack in a very limited space, it was attached to the optical wiring board. The optical connector and the optical connector pulled out from the wiring in the board could be easily connected. Further, the manufactured optical wiring board has a radius of 20 mm.
When it was bent 180 ° with a curvature of 1, no damage was left on the optical wiring board or the optical fiber.

When the loss of all the connected optical fibers was measured, the loss of 0.
It was 6 dB or less. Further, when the produced optical wiring board was subjected to a high temperature and humidity test of leaving it at 75 ° C. and 90% RH for 5000 hours and a temperature cycle test of -40 ° C. to 75 ° C. for 500 times, both changes and fluctuations in optical loss were observed. It was 0.3 dB or less, and it was found that it can be sufficiently used as an optical connecting part.

Example 3 A film-like substrate (size 21) in which an acrylic adhesive was coated on both sides of a 125 μm-thick polyimide film to a thickness of 100 μm, and a release film was adhered on one side
0 mm × 297 mm) was prepared. An optical fiber was wired on one side of this polyimide film in the same manner as in Example 1, and then a silicone-based filler (Busbond, manufactured by Konishi Co., Ltd.) was used in place of the polypropylene nonwoven fabric, and a width of 1 A dam-like material having a size of 0.5 mm and a height of 1 mm was prepared, and a silicone rubber coating solution (YE-5822, manufactured by Toshiba Silicone Co., Ltd.) was dropped inside the dam-shaped material to give 100.
The first resin protective layer was formed by curing at 1 ° C. for 1 hour, and the optical fiber was fixed in a buried state.

After that, the release film on the back surface of the polyimide film was removed, and the total number of optical fibers was 64 and the maximum overlap of the optical fibers was 2 on the adhesive layer.
64 free-access wirings were made so as to form a book. After that, a weir-like material having a width of 0.8 mm and a height of 500 μm was formed on the peripheral portion of the polyimide film on which the optical fiber was wired by using a silicone-based filler (Busbond, manufactured by Konishi Co., Ltd.). Then, a silicone rubber coating liquid (YE-5822, manufactured by Toshiba Silicone Co., Ltd.) was dropped on the inside thereof,
A second resin protective layer is formed by curing at 100 ° C. for 1 hour, and the optical fiber is fixed in a buried state to have a thickness of 1.8.
A mm optical wiring board was produced.

After that, an MU connector was connected to the end of the drawn optical fiber to manufacture an optical wiring board as a final product. In this optical wiring board, since the polyimide film is sandwiched between resin protective layers made of a plastic silicone rubber, the rigidity of the polyimide film is relieved, and it is flexible and flexible, and there is no problem such as curling. It was flat. Therefore, even when a very fragile optical fiber whose coating is removed by treating the end face for connecting to the optical connector is connected to the MU connector, the optical fiber whose coating is removed should be connected to the MU connector without damage. I was able to.

Since this optical wiring board is flexible, supple and flat, it was used for connection between boards in a rack in a very limited space.
The optical connector attached to the optical wiring board and the optical connector pulled out from the wiring inside the board could be easily connected. Furthermore, the above-mentioned optical wiring board produced is to have a radius of 2
When bent 180 ° with a curvature of 0 mm, the optical wiring board,
No damage was left on the optical fiber.

When the loss of all the connected optical fibers was measured, the loss of 0.
It was 8 dB or less. Further, when the produced optical wiring board was subjected to a high temperature and humidity test of leaving it at 75 ° C. and 90% RH for 5000 hours and a temperature cycle test of -40 ° C. to 75 ° C. for 500 times, both changes and fluctuations in optical loss were observed. It was 0.4 dB or less, and it was found that it can be sufficiently used as an optical connecting part.

Example 4 In Example 1, instead of the silicone gel coating solution,
Silicone rubber coating liquid (Toshiba Silicone Co., YE-5
822) was used to prepare an optical connecting component in the same manner as in Example 1 except that the resin was cured at 100 ° C. for 1 hour.

Next, a second polyimide film having a thickness of 125 μm was prepared, and a silicone adhesive coating solution (SD4590 / BY2 manufactured by Toray Dow Corning Co., Ltd.) was applied to both surfaces of the second polyimide film.
4-741 / SRX212 / toluene = 100 / 1.0
/0.9/50 (parts by weight)) by a wire bar coating method, and after drying at 100 ° C. for 3 minutes, an adhesive layer having a thickness of 50 μm is formed, and a release film is formed on one side. Attached film-like substrate (size 210mm
× 297 mm) was produced. The second polyimide film was attached to one surface of the optical connecting component manufactured as described above, and then the release film on the back surface of the second polyimide film was removed. On the exposed surface of the polyimide film, an optical fiber core wire (manufactured by Furukawa Electric Co., Ltd., carbon-coated optical fiber, diameter of 250 μm) was connected per port (optical fiber take-out portion from the optical connecting member) as follows. That is, 16 optical fibers are arranged in parallel at a pitch of 300 μm, and 8 pieces are provided on each side of the short side of the polyimide film.
25m port (each port consists of 16 optical fibers)
It was produced at m pitches. Each optical fiber is wired from one short side of the polyimide film to the other short side, and the wiring to each port on both sides is the desired free access wiring (128) for each optical fiber by design. The wiring was adjusted so that the maximum number of overlaps was three.

Then, a non-woven fabric made of polypropylene fiber (P100SW-00X manufactured by Tonen Tapils Co., Ltd.) is provided on the peripheral portion of the second polyimide film on which the optical fiber is wired.
Was used to form a dam-like material having a width of 5 mm and a thickness of 1 mm. Then, a silicone rubber coating solution (TSE399, manufactured by Toshiba Silicone Co., Ltd.) was dropped inside the silicone rubber, and the silicone rubber was cured under the condition of 25 ° C. for 24 hours to form a third resin protective layer. It fixed in the state where it was embedded in the resin protective layer, and the optical connection component of thickness 3mm was produced. After that, an MU connector was connected to the end of the drawn optical fiber to obtain an optical wiring board as a final product.

In this optical wiring board, since the polyimide film is sandwiched by the flexible resin protective layers made of silicone rubber, the rigidity of the polyimide film is relaxed, and the polyimide film is supple, flexible and curled. It was flat without problems such as. Therefore, even when a very fragile optical fiber whose coating is removed by treating the end face for connecting to the optical connector is connected to the MU connector, the optical fiber whose coating is removed should be connected to the MU connector without damage. I was able to.

When this optical wiring board was used to connect boards in a rack in a very limited space, the optical wiring board was flexible and supple,
The optical connector attached to the optical wiring board and the optical connector pulled out from the wiring inside the board could be easily connected. Furthermore, the above-mentioned optical wiring board produced was used with a radius of 3
When it was bent by 180 ° with a curvature of 0 mm, the optical wiring board could be easily bent without being damaged, and no damage was left on the optical fiber.

The optical loss of the produced optical wiring board was measured, and the optical loss including the optical connector connection loss was measured.
It was 0.5 dB or less. Further, when the produced optical wiring board was subjected to a high temperature and humidity test of leaving it at 75 ° C. and 90% RH for 5000 hours and a temperature cycle test of -40 ° C. to 75 ° C. for 500 times, both changes and fluctuations in optical loss were observed. It was 0.2 dB or less, and was found to be sufficiently usable as an optical connecting part.

Example 5 In Example 1, instead of the silicone gel coating solution,
Silicone rubber coating liquid (TSE3 manufactured by Toshiba Silicone Co., Ltd.)
99) was used and cured at 25 ° C. for 24 hours to obtain an optical connecting part having a structure in which a polyimide film was sandwiched between first and second resin protective layers in the same manner as in Example 1. Two were produced.

Next, a silicone-based adhesive coating solution (SD4590 / BY24-741 / SRX manufactured by Toray Dow Corning Co., Ltd.) was applied to the second resin protective layer of one of the optical connection parts.
212 / toluene = 100 / 1.0 / 0.9 / 50 (parts by weight)) was applied by a dispenser coating method and dried at 100 ° C. for 3 minutes, and then a thickness of 100
A μm adhesive layer was formed. On top of that, another optical connection component was overlaid and adhered to produce an optical connection component composed of a laminate having a thickness of 3.5 mm. Then, an MU connector was connected to the end of the drawn optical fiber to manufacture an optical wiring board as a final product.

In this optical wiring board, since the polyimide film is sandwiched by the flexible resin protective layers made of silicone rubber, the rigidity of the polyimide film is relaxed, and the polyimide film is supple and flexible and curls. It was flat without problems such as. Therefore, even when a very fragile optical fiber whose coating is removed by treating the end face for connecting to the optical connector is connected to the MU connector, the optical fiber whose coating is removed should be connected to the MU connector without damage. I was able to.

Since this optical wiring board is flexible, supple, and flat, it was used for connection between boards in a rack in a very limited space.
The optical connector attached to the optical wiring board and the optical connector pulled out from the wiring inside the board could be easily connected. Furthermore, the above-mentioned optical wiring board produced was used with a radius of 3
When bent 180 ° with a curvature of 5 mm, the optical wiring board,
No damage was left on the optical fiber.

The optical loss of the produced optical wiring board was measured.
It was 0.8 dB or less. Further, when the produced optical wiring board was subjected to a high temperature and humidity test of leaving it at 75 ° C. and 90% RH for 5000 hours and a temperature cycle test of -40 ° C. to 75 ° C. for 500 times, both changes and fluctuations in optical loss were observed. It was 0.5 dB or less, and it was found that it can be sufficiently used as an optical connecting part.

Example 6 In the same manner as in Example 3, two optical connecting parts in which a polyimide film was sandwiched between first and second resin protective layers and optical fiber wiring was provided on both sides of the polyimide film were produced. .

Then, a silicone adhesive coating solution (SD4590 / BY24-741 / SRX manufactured by Toray Dow Corning Co., Ltd.) was applied to the second resin protective layer of one of the optical connection parts.
212 / toluene = 100 / 1.0 / 0.9 / 50 (parts by weight)) was applied by a dispenser coating method and dried at 100 ° C. for 3 minutes, and then a thickness of 100
A μm adhesive layer was formed. On top of that, another optical connection component was laminated and adhered to produce an optical connection component composed of a laminate having a thickness of 3.7 mm. Then, an MU connector was connected to the end of the drawn optical fiber to manufacture an optical wiring board as a final product.

In this optical wiring board, since the polyimide film is sandwiched by the flexible resin protective layers made of silicone rubber, the rigidity of the polyimide film is relaxed, and the polyimide film is supple and flexible and curls. It was flat without problems such as. Therefore, even when a very fragile optical fiber whose coating is removed by treating the end face for connecting to the optical connector is connected to the MU connector, the optical fiber whose coating is removed should be connected to the MU connector without damage. I was able to.

Since this optical wiring board is flexible, supple, and flat, it was used for connecting boards in a rack in a very limited space.
The optical connector attached to the optical wiring board and the optical connector pulled out from the wiring inside the board could be easily connected. Furthermore, the above-mentioned optical wiring board produced was used with a radius of 3
When bent 180 ° with a curvature of 5 mm, the optical wiring board,
No damage was left on the optical fiber.

The optical loss of the produced optical wiring board was measured.
It was 0.6 dB or less. Further, when the produced optical wiring board was subjected to a high temperature and humidity test of leaving it at 75 ° C. and 90% RH for 5000 hours and a temperature cycle test of -40 ° C. to 75 ° C. for 500 times, both changes and fluctuations in optical loss were observed. It was 0.4 dB or less, and it was found that it can be sufficiently used as an optical connecting part.

[0065]

As described above, in the optical connecting part of the present invention, even if a film-like base material which is somewhat rigid is used, it is sandwiched between the flexible resin protective layers and is not exposed to the surface layer. Therefore, the rigidity of the film-shaped substrate is relaxed,
It becomes supple and flexible. That is, the optical connection component of the present invention, even when using a film substrate such as Mylar or Kapton that is flexible but does not stretch,
Since it is sandwiched by the flexible resin protective layer without being exposed on the surface, the flexible and easily stretchable resin protective layer exists on the surface, so that the rigidity of the film-shaped substrate is improved. Is alleviated, and the flexibility of the optical connecting component itself is greatly enhanced. Therefore, even when the end portion of the optical fiber drawn out from the optical connecting component of the present invention and having the end surface processed for connection with the optical component to remove the coating is connected to an optical component such as an optical connector, the coating is Without damaging the very fragile optical fiber being removed,
Can be easily connected to optical parts such as optical connectors,
The yield in the production of optical connection parts is significantly improved as compared with the prior art.

Further, in the optical connecting part of the present invention,
Since there are resin protective layers on both sides, and especially when the resin protective layers are composed of the same resin material, curl that occurs due to the difference in the linear expansion coefficient of the resin material even if it is cured by heating during production. There is no problem such as the above, and flatness is maintained. Therefore, even if the optical fiber drawn from the obtained optical connection component is connected to an optical component such as an optical connector,
No extra stress is applied to optical components such as optical connectors, and optical loss due to connection is extremely small.

Even in the connection between boards in a rack in a very limited space, due to its flexibility and flatness, the optical components such as the optical connector attached to the optical connection component and the wiring in the board can be connected. Connection with an optical component such as an optical connector that has been pulled out can be easily performed, and workability is significantly improved. Further, it is not necessary to prepare long tabs for facilitating the connection, the parts can be easily manufactured, and the mounting does not occupy a large place. Furthermore, since it can be easily multilayered to accommodate a large number of optical fibers, it is useful as a high-density optical wiring board.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a partially broken plan view of an example of an optical connecting component of the present invention.

2 is a cross-sectional view of the optical connection component of FIG.

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of another example of the optical connecting component of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a sectional view of another example of the optical connecting component of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a sectional view of another example of the optical connecting component of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a sectional view of another example of the optical connecting component of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a sectional view of another example of the optical connecting component of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

1, 1a, 1b ... Film-shaped substrate, 2 ... First resin protective layer, 3 ... Adhesive layer, 4 ... Optical fiber, 5 ... End portion, 6
... optical components such as optical connectors and optical modules, 7 ... weir, 8 ... second resin protective layer, 9 ... third resin protective layer,
10 ... Fourth resin protective layer.

   ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continued front page    (72) Inventor Ken Sukegawa             No. 3 Soba Town, Shizuoka City, Shizuoka Prefecture             Tomoegawa Paper Research Institute (72) Inventor Tatsushi Kobayashi             No. 3 Soba Town, Shizuoka City, Shizuoka Prefecture             Tomoegawa Paper Research Institute (72) Inventor Koichi Arishima             3-19-2 Nishi-Shinjuku, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo Japan             Telegraph and Telephone Corporation (72) Inventor Mamoru Hirayama             3-19-2 Nishi-Shinjuku, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo Japan             Telegraph and Telephone Corporation F-term (reference) 2H038 CA52                 2H046 AA03 AA39 AA69 AB12 AD22

Claims (7)

[Claims] 1. A film-shaped substrate comprising a flexible film-shaped substrate having a two-dimensional plane and a plurality of flexible resin protective layers provided on both sides of the film-shaped substrate. An optical connection component, wherein a plurality of optical fibers each having an end portion for optical connection to an end are wired on at least one surface of the material and fixed by a resin protective layer. 2. Two or more flexible film-like base materials having a two-dimensional plane, and a plurality of flexible resin protective layers provided on and between the film-like base materials. And a plurality of optical fibers having a terminal portion for optical connection to the end are wired on at least one surface of each film-shaped substrate, and fixed by a resin protective layer, and each film-shaped substrate is a resin. An optical connecting part characterized by being sandwiched between protective layers to form a laminate. 3. The optical connecting component according to claim 1, wherein the resin protective layer is formed of a gel-like or rubber-like organic material. 4. The optical connecting component according to claim 1, wherein the resin protective layer is formed of a curable resin having flexibility. 5. The optical connecting component according to claim 1, wherein the resin protective layer is formed of a flexible thermoplastic resin. 6. A plurality of optical fibers are wired on one surface of a flexible film-shaped substrate having a two-dimensional plane so as to have an end portion for optical connection to the end of the optical fiber, and the wired optical fiber is connected. A first resin protective layer having flexibility is formed so that the fiber is fixed, and then the other surface of the film-shaped substrate has flexibility made of the same or different resin material as the resin protective layer. A method for producing an optical connecting component, which comprises forming a second resin protective layer. 7. A plurality of optical fibers are wired on one surface of a flexible film-like substrate having a two-dimensional plane so as to have an end portion for optical connection to the end of the optical fiber, and the wired optical fiber is connected. A flexible first resin protective layer is formed so that the fiber is fixed, and then a plurality of films are formed on the other surface of the film-shaped substrate so as to have an end portion for optical connection to the end portion of the optical fiber. The optical fiber is formed, and a flexible second resin protective layer made of a resin material which is the same as or different from the resin protective layer is formed so that the wired optical fiber is fixed. A method for manufacturing an optical connection part.