JP2883221B2 - Manufacturing method of optical fiber fixing substrate - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a method for manufacturing an optical fiber fixing substrate in which a plurality of optical fibers are fixed one by one in a V-groove.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art For example, various substrates for fixing an optical fiber having a diameter of about 125 μm have been known. Regardless of the type of substrate, if the fixed optical fiber is misaligned, the optical transmission loss increases, so the optical fiber fixing portion of the optical fiber fixing substrate has conventionally required high processing accuracy of, for example, 0.5 μm or less. Has been requested. FIG. 2 shows a V-groove 1 as an optical fiber fixing portion.
As shown in the perspective view of the optical fiber fixing substrate 3 provided with the number of optical fibers 2 to be fixed, the V-groove 1 for fixing the optical fiber 2 is a minute one having a depth of, for example, one hundred and several tens μm. .

[0003] For this reason, as a method of manufacturing the optical fiber fixing substrate 3 having the above-described shape, a ceramic material such as alumina, zirconia, or menor, which can achieve high precision, is ground to form an optical fiber fixing portion. Conventionally, a method of processing a V groove to be formed, a method of processing a V groove by etching a silicon material, and a method of forming a round hole by injection molding a resin material have been conventionally used.

[0004]

However, since a method using a silicon material or a method using a resin material cannot form a fine V-groove with higher accuracy, a method of grinding a ceramic material is used. In this case, in this case, the process of processing the ceramic material is to bake the material to obtain a sintered body, then perform surface grinding of the sintered body, and further process a V-groove with a diamond grindstone. There is a problem that it is necessary and requires a processing time of about 5 to 10 hours with a fixed substrate for simultaneously fixing, for example, eight optical fibers, and there is a problem that abrasion of a grindstone is severe because the object to be ground is ceramics. . further,
Due to the difficulty in processing, the number of fibers that can be fixed by one optical fiber fixing substrate is limited, and there has been a problem that it is not possible to obtain a substrate that can simultaneously fix ultra-multiple optical fibers.

An object of the present invention is to solve the above-mentioned problems,
To provide an optical fiber fixing substrate manufacturing method that requires a short processing time, can achieve a long life of the grindstone, can perform super multi-core processing, and can simultaneously fix super multi-core optical fibers. Things.

[0006]

An optical fiber fixing substrate according to the present invention is a method for manufacturing an optical fiber fixing substrate having V-grooves for fixing a plurality of optical fibers. Forming a substrate having a V-groove by pressing the mold at a temperature equal to or higher than the softening point, cooling, performing a heat treatment for crystallization, and then finishing the V-groove with a grindstone. It is.

[0007]

In the above-mentioned structure, crystallized glass is used as a material, and once pressed by a submicron precision mold corresponding to a plurality of V-grooves in a soft state, followed by finishing of the V-groove with a diamond grindstone or the like. By doing this, the substrate for fixing the optical fiber is manufactured, so time-consuming grinding using a grindstone can be reduced, shortening the processing time, extending the life of the grindstone, and enabling super multi-core processing. Thus, a method for manufacturing an optical fiber fixed substrate can be obtained.

Here, crystallized glass such as Li ₂ O—Al ₂ O ₃ —SiO is used without using ceramics such as alumina.
_{In the case} of using the crystallized glass of the ₂ series, if the temperature is equal to or higher than the softening point, the V-groove can be formed by press working, and the subsequent heat treatment for crystallization is required. The rate is about 1%, because the press-formed shape remains almost after heat treatment for crystallization. Press molding using a mold is used because a mold having a sub-micron-order V-groove can be manufactured in recent years, and once a mold is made, it can be used repeatedly. is there.

[0009]

FIG. 1 is a flow chart for explaining the flow of a method for manufacturing an optical fiber fixing substrate according to the present invention. FIG.
The production method of the present invention will be described according to
₂ O-Al ₂ O ₃ -SiO ₂ crystallized glass
Heat to a temperature of 0-1500 ° C. to dissolve. Next, a small amount of the melted crystallized glass is taken out, pressed at a temperature of 1000 to 1200 ° C., which is a temperature equal to or higher than the softening point, using a mold to process the V-groove and the entire shape. Thereafter, it is once cooled. Next, heat treatment for generating and crystallizing a crystal nucleus is performed. One example of the heat treatment schedule is as follows: a temperature is raised from room temperature to a primary crystallization temperature (crystal nucleation) at a heating rate of 50 to 200 ° C./Hr; Is a schedule in which the temperature is raised to the secondary crystallization temperature (crystal growth), held for a certain time, and then lowered. Finally, a V-groove formed by pressing a crystallized and hardened crystallized glass,
By grinding with a diamond grindstone, an optical fiber fixing substrate as a final product is obtained.

FIG. 2 is a view showing an example of the structure of an optical fiber fixing substrate obtained by the manufacturing method of the present invention. In the example shown in FIG. 2, the optical fiber fixing substrate 3 includes a V-groove substrate 3-1 having V-grooves 1 for fixing the optical fibers 2 at equal intervals by the number of the optical fibers 2, and a V-groove 1. An optical fiber pressing substrate 3-2 for pressing and fixing the fixed optical fiber 2 is fixed with an adhesive. The shape of the V-groove 1 changes according to the diameter of the optical fiber 2 to be fixed. As an example, when the optical fiber 2 having a diameter of 125 μm is fixed, when the optical fiber 2 is attached to the V-groove 1, It is preferable to process the V-groove so that a part thereof slightly protrudes from the surface of the V-groove substrate 3-1. The configuration described above is the same as the conventional configuration, but what is important in the present invention is that crystallized glass is used as a material for forming the V-groove substrate 3-1 and the optical fiber pressing substrate 2-2.

Therefore, according to the manufacturing method of the present invention, the processing time of the fixing substrate for simultaneously fixing, for example, eight optical fibers can be greatly reduced, and as a result, the life of the grinding wheel can be extended. It is possible to obtain a super-multi-core optical fiber fixing substrate having, for example, about 100 cores because the processing does not take much time.

The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, but can be variously modified and changed. For example, in the above-described embodiment, after the glass is pressed at a temperature equal to or higher than the softening point of the crystallized glass, the glass is once cooled to room temperature, but a heat treatment for crystallization may be continuously performed. Also,
Although only examples of Li ₂ O—Al ₂ O ₃ —SiO ₂ crystallized glass have been disclosed as crystallized glass, it goes without saying that any other conventionally known crystallized glass can be used. Nor.

[0013]

As is apparent from the above description, according to the present invention, crystallized glass is used as a material and pressed once by a submicron precision mold corresponding to a plurality of V grooves in a soft state. After that, the substrate for fixing the optical fiber is manufactured by further finishing the V-groove with a diamond whetstone or the like, so that the time-consuming grinding processing using the whetstone can be reduced, the processing time can be reduced, and the whetstone can be reduced. Life and super multi-core machining are possible.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a flowchart for explaining a flow of a method for manufacturing an optical fiber fixing substrate of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a view showing the structure of an example of an optical fiber fixing substrate obtained by the manufacturing method of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 V-groove 2 Optical fiber 3-1 V-groove substrate 3-2 Optical fiber holding substrate

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] In a method for manufacturing an optical fiber fixing substrate having V-grooves for fixing a plurality of optical fibers, crystallized glass is melted, and a metal mold is pressed at a temperature equal to or higher than the softening point of the glass. After forming a substrate with grooves and cooling,
A method for producing an optical fiber fixing substrate, comprising performing a heat treatment for crystallization, and then finishing the V-groove with a grindstone.