JP2005265900A - Semiconductor device module - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a semiconductor device module which is not only made low-cost but also easily manufactured by reducing the number of parts relating to the semiconductor device module and allows a stable optical output to be secured by suppressing deviations between optical parts even against the temperature variance in a hermetical sealing stage of an enclosure of the module and at the time of use of the module. <P>SOLUTION: In the semiconductor device module having a semiconductor light emitting body 1, a lens 3 for condensing light emitted from the semiconductor light emitting body 1, and an isolator 4 for isolating the light incorporated in the enclosure, the semiconductor light emitting body 1, the lens 3 and the isolator 4 are arranged and fixed on the same support body 5, and an end surface of an optical fiber 6 is stuck to a surface opposite to the lens, of the isolator 4. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2005,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a semiconductor element module in which a semiconductor light emitting body such as a semiconductor laser, a lens, and an isolator are incorporated in a housing, and in particular, for guiding light emitted from the semiconductor light emitting body to the outside of the module by an optical fiber. The present invention relates to a semiconductor element module.

In the fields of optical communication and optical measurement, light emitted from a semiconductor light emitter such as a semiconductor laser or a light emitting diode is transmitted via an optical fiber in order to be used for various purposes.
In particular, in order to facilitate the handling of the semiconductor light emitter, such as assembly / installation of optical components including the semiconductor light emitter, introduction of light emitted from the semiconductor light emitter into the optical fiber, the semiconductor light emitter, A lens for collimating or condensing light emitted from the semiconductor light emitter and an isolator for isolating the light are built in the same housing, and an optical fiber is disposed on the optical path of the light emitted from the semiconductor light emitter. Fixed semiconductor element modules have been put into practical use.

As an example of a semiconductor element module, what is indicated by the following patent documents 1 or patent documents 2 is known.
As shown in FIG. 1, the semiconductor laser module described in Patent Document 1 includes a metal case in which a through hole slightly larger than the tip of the optical isolator is formed on the wall surface. A metal base on which a semiconductor laser, a condensing lens, and the like are mounted is attached to the inside of the metal case via a Peltier element, and the tip portion of the optical isolator and the through hole of the metal case are firmly fixed by soldering. Furthermore, the opening of the metal case is solder-sealed with a metal lid.
JP-A-7-113931 JP-A-7-202345

  As shown in FIG. 2, the semiconductor laser module described in Patent Document 2 contains a semiconductor laser, a lens that collects light, and a lens holder that fixes the lens, and an optical path direction of light emitted from the lens. A first housing having a through hole in the first housing, and an optical fiber receiving light passing through the through hole on the optical path of the first housing are fixed to the through hole outlet of the first housing. A member for sealing the inside of the body, an electronic cooling element on which the first casing is placed and cooled, and a second casing for accommodating the first casing and the electronic cooling element and leading out the optical fiber. Is.

In a semiconductor element module, it is necessary to accurately introduce light emitted from a semiconductor light emitter such as a semiconductor laser into an optical fiber. On the other hand, dirt such as dust adheres to optical components such as a semiconductor laser. In order to prevent this, it is also necessary to keep the inside of the semiconductor module airtight.
In particular, when assembling a semiconductor element module, when sealing a housing incorporating an optical component, it is necessary to heat the entire module, and the semiconductor is sealed after a metal lid or the like is placed on the housing and sealed. When the element module is cooled, the case itself is distorted due to the difference in shape between the metal lid and the case. For this reason, misalignment between the optical components occurs, the optical coupling performance between the optical components including the semiconductor light emitter and the optical fiber deteriorates, and the light output from the optical fiber decreases.
In addition, positional deviation between the optical components is caused by heat generated by the semiconductor light emitter or temperature fluctuation of the usage environment of the semiconductor element module.

In the case of FIG. 1, the optical isolator is inserted and fixed in a through hole provided in a metal case, and is also fixed to a metal base that holds a condensing lens. For this reason, during hermetic sealing with a metal lid, in particular, thermal stress is applied to the connecting portion between the isolator and the through hole and the connecting portion between the isolator and the metal base, which may cause misalignment between the optical components. . In addition, in the connection portion between the isolator and the through hole, it causes a hermetic failure.
In addition, when the semiconductor laser module is used, it is between the metal base that is maintained at a predetermined temperature by the Peltier element due to heat from the semiconductor laser and changes in the environmental temperature, and the metal case that is a housing constituting the semiconductor laser module. As a result, a temperature difference is generated, so that stress is applied to each connecting portion described above, which causes a positional shift of the optical component.

Furthermore, when joining the isolator and the optical fiber, the material forming the joining surface of the isolator is different from the material of the ferrule or slide ring that holds the optical fiber. Since it is necessary to increase the size, there arises a problem that the ferrule or the slide ring becomes larger.
In addition, since the metal case requires a large through hole into which the isolator can be inserted and fixed, it is difficult to maintain airtightness for a long period of time.

In the case of FIG. 2, the first casing is hermetically sealed, and the first casing is housed in the second casing, which complicates the structure and increases the number of parts. Many manufacturing costs are high.
Moreover, the isolator and the optical fiber are spaced apart from each other by the holding member that holds the isolator and the sleeve. For this reason, although the first housing is held at a predetermined temperature by the electronic cooling element, the temperature of the holding member, the sleeve, etc. changes, so that the semiconductor laser and the lens and the tip of the optical fiber The distance fluctuates, and it becomes difficult to accurately introduce the light emitted from the semiconductor laser into the optical fiber.

  The object of the present invention is to solve the above-mentioned problems, reduce the number of parts related to the semiconductor element module, reduce the cost and ease of manufacture, and perform the hermetic sealing process of the module casing and the module. It is an object of the present invention to provide a semiconductor element module capable of suppressing a deviation between optical components even with a temperature change during use and ensuring a stable light output.

  In order to solve the above-mentioned problem, in the invention according to claim 1, a semiconductor light emitter, a lens for condensing light emitted from the semiconductor light emitter, and an isolator for isolating the light are incorporated in a housing. In the semiconductor element module, the semiconductor light emitter, the lens, and the isolator are disposed and fixed on the same support, and the end face of the optical fiber is fixed to the surface of the isolator opposite to the lens. It is characterized by.

  According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the semiconductor element module according to the first aspect, the lens is disposed so as to condense light from the semiconductor light emitter onto an end face of the optical fiber. And

  The invention according to claim 3 is characterized in that in the semiconductor element module according to claim 1 or 2, the optical fiber is fixed to the isolator via a capillary.

  In the invention according to claim 4, in the semiconductor element module according to any one of claims 1 to 3, a part of the optical fiber is fixed to the casing so that the optical fiber is bent in the casing. It is characterized by.

According to the first aspect of the present invention, the semiconductor light emitter, the lens, and the isolator are arranged and fixed on the same support, and the end face of the optical fiber is fixed to the isolator. All optical components related to output are arranged and fixed on a substantially single support member, and stress due to temperature changes applied to the joint between each optical component or between the optical component and the housing can be alleviated. At the same time, by holding the support at a predetermined temperature, it is possible to suppress positional deviation between the optical components due to temperature change.
In addition, by arranging the support in the housing and performing hermetic sealing, even if distortion occurs in the housing after hermetic sealing due to temperature changes in the hermetic sealing process, the support is not strained. As long as the influence is not exerted, there is no positional deviation between the optical components.

  According to the invention of claim 2, since the lens is arranged so as to collect the light from the semiconductor light emitter on the end face of the optical fiber, the semiconductor light emitter can be obtained simply by connecting the end face of the optical fiber to the side face of the isolator. It becomes possible to introduce the light emitted from the optical fiber with high accuracy.

According to the invention of claim 3, since the optical fiber is fixed to the isolator using a capillary, the optical fiber can be more firmly fixed to the isolator.
Moreover, since the isolator has a structure in which a polarizer and a rotor are combined, polarizers made of glass are arranged on both sides of the isolator. On the other hand, since the optical fiber and the capillary are made of a glass material, the junction between the isolator, the optical fiber, and the capillary is a glass-to-glass connection, and strong fixation can be realized with a small connection area.

According to the invention of claim 4, since a part of the optical fiber is fixed to the housing so that the optical fiber bends in the housing, the external stress applied to the optical fiber is transmitted to the joint between the isolator and the optical fiber. It is possible to suppress this, and it is possible to prevent positional deviation between optical components.
In addition, when fixing the optical fiber to the housing, the size of the through hole provided in the housing can be extremely small, so that an airtight sealed state can be easily formed, and high airtightness can be achieved over a long period of time. Can be maintained.

  In addition, since the optical fiber is configured to bend in the housing, even if the housing itself is distorted, the stress applied to the joint between the optical fiber and the isolator and the fixing portion between the optical fiber and the housing is alleviated. Therefore, there is no occurrence of misalignment between optical components or disconnection of the optical fiber itself.

Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail using preferred examples.
The present invention provides a semiconductor light emitting device including a semiconductor light emitter, a lens that collects light emitted from the semiconductor light emitter, and an isolator that isolates the light in a housing. The main feature is that the lens and the isolator are arranged and fixed on the same support, and the end face of the optical fiber is fixed to the surface of the isolator opposite to the lens.

  Specifically, as shown in FIG. 3, on a support 5 formed of a ceramic material or the like, a semiconductor laser that is a semiconductor light emitter 1, a light receiving element 2 for monitoring output light of the semiconductor laser, a semiconductor A lens 3 for condensing the emitted light of the laser on the end face of the optical fiber 6 and an isolator 4 for preventing return light to the semiconductor laser are arranged and fixed.

An optical fiber 6 is bonded to the surface of the isolator 4 opposite to the lens 3, and a capillary 7 is used to improve the bonding strength.
For these joining, a known technique such as an ultraviolet curable adhesive can be used as a connecting method between glass members, and the joining between glass members is compared with joining between a glass member and other material parts. Since extremely strong bonding can be realized, the bonding area can be made smaller than the conventional bonding method using a ferrule, a slide ring, or a sleeve. The size of the capillary may be about φ1 mm and the length is about 1 mm, and the semiconductor element module can be downsized.

  The support 5 is fixed to the inner surface of the housing 9 via the Peltier element 8. The Peltier element 8 is used to hold the semiconductor laser and the support at a predetermined temperature in order to suppress the stability of the output light of the semiconductor laser and the deformation due to the temperature change of the support.

In order to lead out the optical fiber 6 to the outside of the semiconductor element module, a through hole is provided on one side surface of the housing 9, and the optical fiber 6 is fixed to the housing 9 through the sleeve 10 in the through hole. As a fixing method, the sleeve 10 and the optical fiber are fixed with an adhesive, and the sleeve 10 and the housing 9 are fixed with a material having a high melting point such as gold tin or silver solder.
Since the through-hole provided in the housing 9 only needs to have a diameter into which the sleeve 10 can be inserted, it is possible to minimize the size of the through-hole and facilitate the manufacture of the semiconductor module. It is possible to ensure stable airtightness over a long period of time.

  Further, by fixing the optical fiber 6 in a bent state between the isolator 4 and the through-hole of the housing 9, the sealing process of the lid 11 described later and the isolator and housing due to the temperature change of the external environment. The optical fiber absorbs these changes with respect to changes in the distance to the through-hole and impacts applied to the optical fiber from the outside of the semiconductor element module, so that the connection between the isolator 4 and the optical fiber 6 is reduced. Since the influence can be suppressed, it is possible to prevent the positional deviation between the optical components and stabilize the light output.

After incorporating necessary parts in the housing 9, the housing 9 is sealed with a lid 11 formed of a metal material or the like.
The lid 11 is sealed by covering the casing 9 with the lid 11 and joining them together by soldering or YAG laser welding.

When the housing 9 is heated by soldering or YAG laser welding or when the housing 9 is intentionally heated as described above, the temperature of the housing 9 is different between the time of joining and the time of cooling after joining. However, since the case 9 is different, the housing 9 is likely to be distorted during cooling.
However, since the optical fiber is fixed in a bent state between the isolator 4 and the through-hole of the housing 9, it is possible to suppress a decrease in light output of the semiconductor element module due to distortion during cooling.

As described in the above embodiment, the number of parts constituting the semiconductor element module according to the present invention is significantly smaller than the conventional one shown in Patent Document 1 or 2, and the manufacturing process is simplified. Therefore, it becomes possible to manufacture at a much lower cost than the conventional semiconductor element optical module.
Needless to say, the present invention is not limited to the above-described one, and a known technique in the technical field can be applied as necessary.

  As described above, according to the present invention, the number of parts related to the semiconductor element module is reduced, the cost is reduced and the manufacture is facilitated. It is possible to provide a semiconductor element module that can suppress a deviation between optical components even with a temperature change during use and can ensure a stable light output.

It is a figure which shows the cross section of the conventional semiconductor laser module. It is a figure which shows the cross section of the other example of the conventional semiconductor laser module. It is a figure which shows the cross section of the semiconductor element module which concerns on this invention.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Semiconductor light-emitting body 2 Light receiving element 3 Lens 4 Isolator 5 Support body 6 Optical fiber 7 Capillary 8 Peltier element 9 Case 10 Sleeve 11 Lid

Claims (4)

In a semiconductor element module including a semiconductor light emitter, a lens that collects light emitted from the semiconductor light emitter, and an isolator that isolates the light in a housing,
The semiconductor light emitting device, the lens, and the isolator are disposed and fixed on the same support, and an end face of an optical fiber is fixed to a surface of the isolator opposite to the lens. module.   2. The semiconductor element module according to claim 1, wherein the lens is disposed so as to collect light from the semiconductor light emitter on an end face of the optical fiber.   3. The semiconductor element module according to claim 1, wherein the optical fiber is fixed to the isolator via a capillary. 4. The semiconductor element module according to claim 1, wherein a part of the optical fiber is fixed to the casing so that the optical fiber is bent in the casing. .

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