JP4239762B2 - Optical pickup device and optical disk device - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to an optical pickup device and an optical disc apparatus for recording and reproducing information signals with respect to various optical discs.

In recent years, optical disc drives have been made thinner, and at present, products having a thickness of about 10 mm have been commercialized. The greatest obstacle to reducing the thickness of an optical disk drive is the thickness of an optical pickup that is a key device.
Therefore, reducing the thickness of this optical pickup is the key to creating a thinner optical disk drive. Recently, an optical pickup having a new structure has been proposed in order to realize a thinner optical disk drive, for example, 5 mm thick (see, for example, Patent Documents 1 to 3).

FIG. 17 is a cross-sectional view showing an example of a conventional optical pickup.
The example shown in the figure is an example in which all optical systems are integrated into a floating slider 1120 supported by a load beam 1110 including a bimorph piezoelectric element 1111 to form a single package. The flying slider 1120 is provided with a laminated piezoelectric element 1121 on the outer periphery, and an integrated optical system (integrated OP) 1122 and a laser light emitting / receiving unit 1123 are disposed inside the floating slider 1120, and further an objective facing the optical disk 1130 on the upper part. A lens 1124 is disposed.
In the flying slider 1120, focus servo is performed by changing the distance between the integrated OP 1122 and the objective lens 1124 by the laminated piezoelectric element 1121. Further, by controlling the load pressure applied to the flying slider 1120 by the bimorph piezoelectric element 1111 provided in the load beam 1110, the flying height of the flying slider 1120 can be changed to perform focus servo.

FIG. 18 is a sectional view showing another example of a conventional optical pickup.
In the example shown in the figure, a flying slider 1240 is arranged above the optical pickup body 1260 by a suspension 1261, and an objective lens 1241 provided on the flying slider 1240 is driven by a MEMS (micro-electro-mechanical system) actuator 1250, thereby This is an example in which focus servo for 1270 is performed.
JP 2001-297457 A JP 2002-008260 A JP 2003-141765 A

However, any of the conventional optical pickups described above has a problem with focus servo in terms of performance. Specifically, the focus servo has a short focal distance or no acceleration. In addition, there are other practical problems such as requiring a high voltage for the drive voltage and high cost.
For example, the example shown in FIG. 17 has a problem that the movable stroke of the focal point is small. In general, the stroke of the multilayer piezoelectric element 1121 is about 2 to 3 μm or less when used in a thin portion such as the slider 1120. In addition, the focus servo by the load beam 1110 is also limited to about ± 1 μm or less because the flying height has a limit. Further, in order to drive the piezoelectric element, a large voltage of about 30 to 100 V is required. However, since the optical disk drive is generally driven at 12V or 5V, a dedicated DC-DC converter must be provided. Furthermore, the cost of the piezoelectric element itself is high.

  In the example shown in FIG. 18, since the MEMS actuator 1250 generally has a weak driving force, there is no acceleration when the objective lens 1241 is driven. Further, the movable stroke of the objective lens 1241 cannot be taken. Similarly, the amount of defocus correction is about 2 to 3 μm or less. Further, since acceleration is not generated, high-band focus servo cannot be performed. Furthermore, MEMS is still expensive as a driving force for the actuator.

  SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide an optical pickup device and an optical disc device that can be reduced in thickness while realizing the above-described improvement in focus servo performance, low voltage, and low cost.

In order to achieve the above object, an optical pickup device according to the present invention includes an integrated optical pickup unit including a semiconductor laser and an optical system for recording or reproducing a signal with an optical beam on an optical disc, and the integrated optical pickup unit. A rotating arm unit that is supported, and the rotating arm unit is mounted with an optical pickup base plate made of a thin metal plate in which a hole for arranging an optical pickup is formed on the tip end side, and the integrated optical pickup unit. A semiconductor substrate mounted on one side surface of the optical pickup base plate to block the hole; and a transparent cover mounted on the other side surface of the optical pickup base plate to block the hole, the hole of the optical pickup base plate being Sealed with a semiconductor substrate and transparent cover Forming between, characterized in that a integrated optical pickup unit on the semiconductor substrate in this space.
An optical disk apparatus according to the present invention includes an optical disk drive unit that holds and rotates an optical disk, an integrated optical pickup unit that includes a semiconductor laser and an optical system that records or reproduces a signal with an optical beam on the optical disk, A rotary arm unit that supports the integrated optical pickup unit, and the rotary arm unit includes an optical pickup base plate made of a thin metal plate in which a hole for arranging an optical pickup is formed on a tip side, and the integrated optical pickup unit. And a semiconductor substrate that is mounted on one side of the optical pickup base plate and closes the hole, and a transparent cover that is mounted on the other side of the optical pickup base plate and closes the hole, Optical pickup base plate hole in semiconductor Forming a space which is sealed by closing a plate and a transparent cover, characterized in that a integrated optical pickup unit on the semiconductor substrate in this space.

  According to the optical pickup device and the optical disc apparatus according to the present invention, the hole provided in the optical pickup base plate of the rotary arm unit is sealed with the semiconductor substrate on which the integrated optical pickup unit is mounted and the transparent cover, and the semiconductor is placed in the space. Since the integrated optical pickup unit on the substrate is arranged, the optical pickup can be thinned. Further, the optical pickup base plate functions as a heat radiating plate, so that the heat radiation performance for the semiconductor laser can be improved, and the number of parts can be reduced and the cost can be reduced with a simple configuration.

  In the optical pickup device and the optical disk device of this example, the rotating arm that supports the integrated optical pickup unit has an optical pickup base plate made of a thin plate material of an iron alloy or a copper alloy, and a hole provided in the optical pickup base plate. A space sealed by a silicon substrate and a cover glass was formed from both sides, and an integrated optical pickup unit including a semiconductor laser integrated on the silicon substrate and an optical system was disposed in the space. With such a structure, it is possible to reduce the thickness of the optical pickup, improve heat dissipation, reduce the number of parts, and reduce costs. Further, when the cover glass has a function as an optical component such as a lens, the thickness of the plate material is adjusted by changing the plating thickness, and the cover glass functions as a position adjustment of the optical component. Thereby, optical accuracy can be secured. For the plating, a plating with solder such as copper plating or solder plating is used. Thereby, each part can be fixed with solder, position shift by heat can be aimed at, grounding with each part can be taken, and high fixation strength can be obtained.

  Further, in the optical pickup device and the optical disk device of the present example, the rotation arm that supports the optical pickup is arranged with an inclination from the radial axis of the rotation center of the rotation arm. As a result, it is possible to reduce the amplitude deterioration in the servo error signal due to the azimuth angle generation. In addition, by setting the tilt angle of the rotating arm to an optical pickup on the optical disk and the angle at which the azimuth angle is 0 degrees at the approximate center of the access area, the amplitude degradation of the servo error signal due to azimuth angle generation is minimized. Can be. In addition, there is a compensator that makes the amplitude of the tracking error signal constant even if the azimuth angle changes, and a compensator that makes the amplitude of the focus error signal constant even if the azimuth angle changes. As a result, the amplitudes of the tracking error signal and the focus error signal can be made constant even when the azimuth angle is generated.

In addition, the optical pickup device and the optical disk device of the present example extend the divergence angle of the laser light emitted from the optical pickup unit to the integrated optical pickup unit mounted on the optical pickup base plate of the rotating arm as described above. The floating slider is provided with a collimator lens that converts the light from the concave lens into parallel light on a leaf spring arranged in parallel with the optical pickup base plate, and an objective lens incorporated in a suspension arranged in parallel with the leaf spring And a collimator lens actuator comprising a drive coil for driving a leaf spring provided with the collimator lens described above and a magnetic circuit. With such a configuration, the collimator lens can be freely displaced, and the focus correction distance and acceleration of the focus servo can be increased. The height of the rib part (bending part) of the load beam of the collimator lens actuator can be made to function as a stopper by making it higher than the total thickness of the optical components existing between the load beam and the optical pickup base plate. The optical component can be protected.
Further, a hole for passing the magnetic circuit for the collimator lens actuator is provided in the suspension supporting the above-described flying slider. Thereby, the acceleration of a collimator actuator can be improved and the thrust change by a position can be decreased.

Further, in a flexible substrate that is electrically connected to the integrated optical pickup unit, a signal is extracted by separating a signal necessary for operation and a signal necessary only for adjustment. Here, after adjusting and fixing the integrated optical pickup unit, a signal pattern required only for adjustment is cut out. Thereby, the signal line drawn out from the optical pickup can be minimized.
In addition, in the suspension for the floating slider with the objective lens, when the floating slider is fixed to the suspension, a hole through which an adhesive can be applied from the side opposite to the floating slider attaching surface is provided. As a result, the risk of the adhesive obstructing the optical path can be eliminated, and the assembly workability can be improved.
In addition, a flexure that absorbs the movement of the slider in the roll and pitch directions is provided by two symmetrical two-by-two twisted hinges around the floating slider with the objective lens, and the gap between the slider adhesion part and the hinge part intermediate ring is provided. A structure that allows light from an optical pickup to pass through. As a result, the mechanical resonance performance of the flexure can be improved, the optical path passing through the suspension can be secured, and the change of the objective lens position can be dealt with.

Also, the suspension of the floating slider with the objective lens, the leaf spring for the collimator lens actuator to which the collimator lens is fixed, and the iron alloy or copper alloy plate to which the integrated optical pickup unit is fixed are iron alloy or copper alloy. Use the same type of material. Thereby, the position shift of the optical component by the difference in a thermal expansion coefficient can be prevented.
Also, a suspension provided with a floating slider with an objective lens and a leaf spring provided with a collimator lens are fixed by caulking or welding, and after assembly, the assembly parts are soldered to a base plate provided with an integrated optical pickup unit. Stick. Accordingly, it is possible to withstand the heat of fixing due to the final solder, and to obtain the function of the joining means for the assembly parts.
In the floating slider with an objective lens, an adjustment clamp can be obtained by providing two V-shaped notches in the mount.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing the overall configuration of an optical disc drive (optical disc apparatus) according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention. The illustrated optical pickup is an example of an optical disk drive capable of replacing an optical disk having a size of 85.6 mm (length) × 54 mm (width) × 5 mm (thickness) (for example, PCMCIA type 2 size). The state where 12 is removed is shown.
In the optical disc 1, a disc-shaped iron piece with a hole is bonded to the center, and the iron piece is aligned with the spindle motor shaft and attracted by a magnetic force. The optical disk 1 is normally stored and used in a state of being stored in the cartridge 2. A shutter that can be opened and closed is attached to the lower surface of the cartridge 2. When the cartridge 2 is loaded into the drive, the shutter is opened, and the optical pickup 8 reads and writes information through the opening. The optical disk 1 is inserted into the drive from the direction of arrow a in the figure, and is chucked by the spindle motor 3 with a magnetic force. Then, it is rotated by the spindle motor 3 and used.

The spindle motor 3 is fixed to the chassis 4. The bearing shaft 6 is screwed perpendicularly to the chassis 4. Further, two bearings are attached to the bearing shaft 6 to form a bearing unit 31. The rotary arm unit 5 is attached to the bearing shaft 6 via the bearing unit 31 so as to be rotatable. A coil is attached to one end of the rotating arm unit 5 and forms a voice coil motor together with a magnetic circuit 7 using a magnet. The rotating arm unit 5 obtains a driving force in the rotational direction by the voice coil motor. Further, the optical pickup 8 according to the first embodiment of the present invention is formed at the other end of the rotating arm unit 5. The optical pickup 8 can access the inner and outer peripheries of the optical disc as the rotating arm unit 5 rotates.
The optical pickup 8 is provided with a floating slider, which will be described later. The floating slider is always subjected to a spring force (5 gf or less) upward in the figure by a suspension spring, and a pressing force against the disk surface. When the disk is not in the drive or when the spindle motor 3 is stopped, the optical pickup 8 is retracted further outside the outer periphery of the disk as shown in FIG. At that time, the position of the suspension of the optical pickup 8 in the height direction is regulated by the spring presser 9. The configuration of the optical pickup 8 will be described in detail later. The optical pickup 8 is electrically connected via an electric circuit board 11 and a flexible board 10 on the lower surface of the chassis 4. Through the flexible substrate 10, signals are transmitted to the optical pickup 8 and a voice coil motor is driven.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing the overall configuration of the rotating arm unit. 3 and 4 are exploded perspective views showing the rotating arm unit for each component unit. FIG. 3 shows a state viewed from the upper surface direction, and FIG. 4 shows a state viewed from the lower surface direction. ing.
The optical pickup is roughly divided into three units. The first is an OP base having an optical pickup base plate (hereinafter referred to as an OP base plate) 22 and an integrated optical pickup unit (hereinafter referred to as an integrated OP unit) 17, and the second is a support spring 19, a drive coil 20, and A collimator lens actuator unit having a collimator lens 15, and a third slider slider unit having a slider 13 with an objective lens and a suspension 18.

Here, the details of each component unit will be described first.
FIG. 5 is an exploded perspective view showing details of the OP base portion. As shown in the figure, the OP base portion is configured by attaching each component to the OP base plate 22.
The OP base plate 22 is a sheet metal having a thickness of 1 mm or less formed of an iron-based or copper-based alloy, and is plated with good solder such as copper plating (in the case of an iron-based material) or solder plating. As will be described later, the integrated OP unit 17 is fixed, the collimator lens actuator is fixed, and the magnet yoke is fixed by solder.
Also, as will be described later, by controlling the plating thickness of the OP base plate 22, the distance between the optical components (the integrated OP unit 17 and the cover glass 16 with the concave lens) can be managed on the micron order. .

  In FIG. 5, the cover glass 16 with a concave lens and the integrated OP unit 17 are fixed to the square hole 22A at the right end of the OP base plate 22 in the drawing so as to be sandwiched from above and below. The cover glass 16 with a concave lens is a glass plate of about 3 mm (horizontal) × 4 mm (longitudinal) × 0.3 mm (thickness), and a concave lens 53 made by a method to be described later is formed almost at the center. In Example 1, the concave lens 53 has a diameter of about 0.3 mm.

Next, as shown in FIG. 8, the integrated OP unit 17 includes a semiconductor laser 27 and a beam splitter (BS) 28 mounted on a silicon substrate on which photodetectors (PD) 29 and 30 and an electric circuit are formed in advance. It has been done. In Example 1, it is formed on a silicon substrate of about 3 mm (horizontal) × 4 mm (vertical) × 0.3 mm (thickness). This is also commercialized for optical pickups for CDs and DVDs, and is similar to what is called by the name of laser couplers.
A normal laser coupler is surrounded by an outer package made of ceramic or the like around the integrated OP unit 17. In addition to the ease of use and the purpose of protection, such an outer casing package has a purpose of preventing contamination of the semiconductor laser 27 by preventing dust from being mixed or by enclosing an inert gas in the package. However, in this example, the OP base plate 22 is partially responsible for the outer casing package.
When the cover glass 16 with a concave lens and the integrated OP unit 17 are sandwiched from above and below in the square hole 22A of the OP base plate 22, a sealed space is formed. By enclosing the inert gas in the space, it is possible to prevent dust from being mixed and the semiconductor laser 27 from being corroded. The integrated OP unit 17 is fixed to the OP base plate 22 with solder. Thereafter, the position of the cover glass 16 with a concave lens is adjusted in an inert gas, and is fixed to the OP base plate 22 by adhesion. At that time, the concave lens 53 is adjusted so as to be aligned with the optical axis of the laser light emitted from the integrated OP unit 17.

Further, the accuracy of the distance between the integrated OP unit 17 and the concave lens 53 is important, and depending on the optical system, an accuracy of about several μm to 10 μm is required. This accuracy is a value that cannot be obtained only by the plate thickness accuracy of a general sheet metal. As described above, this accuracy is realized by controlling the thickness of the plating applied to the OP base plate 22.
Further, this OP base portion is used by being driven to rotate around the hole 48 at the left end in the figure, but the integrated OP unit 17 is arranged with an inclination from the radial axis centering on the hole 48. Yes. As will be described later, the optical pickup of this example is of a rotating arm type, and when the inner and outer circumferences of the disc are accessed, an azimuth angle is generated with respect to the recording track. When the azimuth angle is generated, the sensitivity of the tracking error signal is deteriorated. Therefore, in order to minimize this deterioration, the integrated OP unit 17 is arranged at an angle so that the azimuth angle is 0 degrees in the approximate center of the access area. The lens manufacturing method and optical system used in this example will be described later.

A flexible substrate 25 is attached to the integrated OP unit 17. The flexible substrate 25 is provided with a land portion (conductor exposed portion), and is electrically connected by directly pressing with an electric terminal led to the back surface of the silicon substrate. The integrated OP unit 17 is electrically connected to the electric circuit 11 through the flexible substrate 25.
As shown in FIG. 5, the flexible substrate 25 draws out signals from the integrated OP unit 17 in two. One is a signal used only for optical position adjustment when assembling the optical pickup, and the other is a signal necessary when operating as an optical pickup. Then, as shown in the figure, a line used only for adjustment is cut off after adjustment. This eliminates unnecessary pattern routing when the rotating arm unit is driven. Note that the routing of the flexible substrate 10 gives unnecessary torque to the rotating arm unit 5, which can be reduced. Further, if the routing is the same, the signal line width can be increased. In addition, there is an advantage of eliminating unnecessary electrical noise by eliminating extra signal lines.

  A magnetic circuit for driving a collimator lens actuator section, which will be described later, is also attached to the OP base plate 22. Since the collimator lens actuator unit is attached with its position adjusted, the magnetic circuit is also adjusted and fixed in accordance with the position of the drive coil 22 after the position adjustment is completed. The magnetic circuit includes a magnet 24 and a magnet yoke 23. The magnet 24 is magnetized with two poles on the front and back sides, and the magnetic flux emitted from the magnet 24 passes through the space gap and forms a closed magnetic path through the opposing magnet yoke 23. The magnet yoke 23 is made of an iron material having magnetism, and this is also plated with good solder such as copper plating or solder plating. The OP base plate 22 is fixed by soldering or bonding. In the case of adhesive fixing, such copper plating or solder plating is not necessary. The OP base plate 22 has a diaphragm 52, which is also used for fixing to the collimator lens actuator.

Next, the collimator lens actuator unit shown in FIG. 6 will be described.
First, the support spring 19 is composed of three parts: a support spring mount 47, a support spring load beam 54, and a leaf spring 55 connecting them. The support spring mount 47 is formed of an iron-based or copper-based sheet metal of about 0.3 mm or less. It has four claw parts (bending parts) 43 for soldering to the OP base plate 22. In the case of an iron-based material, at least the claw portion 43 is subjected to copper plating or solder plating. The support spring load beam 54 is also formed of an iron-based or copper-based sheet metal of about 0.3 mm or less.
The leaf spring 55 is made of a thin iron-based material or copper-based spring material of 0.1 mm or less, and is fixed to the support spring mount 47 and the support spring load beam 54 by point welding. The support spring load beam 54 can move up and down via a leaf spring 55. Further, the support spring load beam 54 is provided with two ribs 56 (bending portions). The rib 56 protrudes at a high position with respect to the total thickness of the optical components, and the rigidity of the support spring load beam 54 is ensured. Further, the OP base plate 22 and the rib 56 collide with each other, so It functions as a stopper. With this stopper function, the two optical components (the cover glass 16 with concave lens and the collimator lens 15) are protected from damage due to collision.

The quarter wavelength plate 14 and the collimator lens 15 are attached to each other at the tip of the support spring load beam 54. In this embodiment, the quarter-wave plate 14 has a size of about 3 mm (horizontal) × 3 mm (vertical) × 0.1 mm (thickness). The collimator lens 15 has an outer shape of about 3 mm (horizontal) × 3 mm (vertical) × 0.3 mm (thickness), and the lens portion at the center is approximately Φ0.5 mm in diameter. The lens manufacturing method and the function of the optical component will be described later.
The drive coil 20 is bonded and fixed to the support spring load beam 54 and is combined with a magnetic circuit attached to the OP base plate 22 to form a voice coil motor. The support spring load beam 54 can be driven up and down by the voice coil motor. Naturally, it functions as an actuator that moves the collimator lens 15 up and down. The drive coil 20 is electrically connected to the electric circuit board 11 through the flexible board 21. The flexible substrate 21 is connected not only to the drive coil 20 but also to the coil bobbin unit 32 for driving the rotating arm unit 5 with the electric circuit substrate 11.

Next, the configuration of the slider suspension shown in FIG. 7 will be described.
This slider suspension portion is composed of a suspension 18 and a slider 13 with an objective lens. The suspension 18 is composed of three components, that is, a suspension mount portion 45, a suspension load beam 62, and a leaf spring 63 that connects them. The suspension mount portion 45 is made of an iron-based or copper-based sheet metal of about 0.3 mm or less. Further, the center is punched downward (burring) in FIG. 7, and is used for caulking or welding to the hole 42 of the support spring mount 47.
The suspension mount portion 45 is provided with V-shaped cutouts 46 at two locations. This is for clamping with a pin from both sides by a jig when adjusting and fixing to the OP base plate 22 after assembling with the collimator lens actuator. The suspension load beam 62 is also made of an iron-based or copper-based sheet metal of about 0.3 mm or less. The leaf spring 63 is made of a thin iron-based material or copper-based spring material of 0.1 mm or less, and is fixed to the suspension mount 45 and the suspension load beam 62 by point welding. The suspension load beam 62 moves up and down around the leaf spring 63. The leaf spring 63 is bent in advance so that when the optical pickup is in use, the flying slider 13 with the objective lens exerts a pressing force of about 5 gf or less against the disk.

A suspension slider 13 with an objective lens is bonded and fixed to the suspension load beam 62. The floating slider 13 with the objective lens is placed from the upper side in the figure so that the center thereof is exactly aligned with the adhesive hole 57, and is fixed by pouring an adhesive into the adhesive hole 57 from the back and curing it. In addition, when there is no adhesion hole, it will adhere | attach two surfaces and an adhesive will protrude. The protruding adhesive may interfere with the optical path that passes through the floating slider 13 with the objective lens. Therefore, in the case of this example, the adhesive portion is surrounded and the adhesive does not protrude.
The floating slider 13 with an objective lens is made of glass with a size of about 2.8 mm (horizontal) × 2 mm (vertical) × 0.6 mm (thickness), and the upper surface in the figure is the same as the floating slider of a hard disk drive. An air bearing rail shape is formed. An air bearing is formed between the rail surface and the disk surface to function as a flying slider (flying head). In this example, although it depends on the linear velocity of the disk, it is designed to fly with a flying height of about 0.1 to 1 μm.
An objective lens 61 according to a manufacturing method to be described later is embedded in the floating slider 13 with the objective lens. Around the bonding portion 59, two hinge springs (two-way torsional hinges) 62A called a flexure are formed so as to absorb the inclination in the roll direction and the pitch direction of the slider. The hinge spring 62A is formed from the suspension load beam 62 by etching and half etching.
When functioning as an optical pickup, laser light is incident from the lower side in the figure, and enters the objective lens 61 through the gap 58 of the hinge spring.

In this example, the flying slider 13 with the objective lens has a skew angle of about ± 20 degrees at the maximum (here, the angle formed by the longitudinal direction of the suspension and the longitudinal direction of the slider. = 0 degrees). The shape of the hinge portion is escaped so that the light passing through the gap 58 of the hinge spring 62A does not interfere with the bonding portion 59 even when the skew angle is set, and the outer shape of the bonding portion 59 is circular.
Moreover, the half etching part 65 similar to the hinge part is provided on both sides of the hinge spring part. This acts as a stopper for stopping the floating slider 13 with the objective lens so that the hinge spring portion is not plastically deformed when the floating slider 13 with the objective lens receives a downward force in FIG.

FIG. 15 is a plan view showing the hinge spring of this example in comparison with the conventional example.
Conventional example 1 is a hinge spring shape that is common in hard disk drives and the like, and has a structure in which the end of hinge spring 1310 is joined to slider 1311. Although it is small in size, the hinge spring is supported by a cantilever structure from the left side in the figure, so that the mechanical resonance in the tracking direction is low. Moreover, since it is adhesion | attachment of surfaces, there exists a possibility that the protrusion of an adhesive may block an optical path.
In the second conventional example, the slider 1321 is supported by a hinge spring 1320 provided with an intermediate ring portion 1320A in a bilaterally symmetrical structure from both sides. Therefore, the mechanical resonance is designed to be higher than that of the conventional example 1. However, depending on the size of the slider, the hinge spring is large, so that the rigidity of the hinge portion (especially the intermediate ring portion) itself cannot be increased so much. Servo performance may be limited. Further, since it is a type in which the surfaces are bonded to each other and a hole is opened only in a portion through which the optical path passes, the shape is most likely to block the optical path by the protruding adhesive.
Finally, this example is the same as both-side support as in Conventional Example 2 and the hinge spring 62A is made small, so that the mechanical resonance can be highest among the three examples. In addition, there is no worry of blocking the optical path due to the protruding adhesive. Also, attachment with a skew angle is possible.

Next, returning to FIG.
A lifter portion 64 is provided at the tip of the suspension load beam 62. In FIG. 1, it has been described that the optical pickup 8 is retracted further outside the outer periphery of the disk when the disk 1 is not in the drive or when the spindle motor 3 is stopped. At this time, the lifter portion 64 is used to retract the floating slider 13 with the objective lens from the disk surface by the spring retainer 9 or to lower it onto the disk surface. In addition, the suspension load beam 62 has a hole 60 in the center. As can be seen from FIG. 2, this is a hole for escaping the magnetic circuit attached to the OP base plate 22.

Next, the effect of the presence / absence of the hole 60 will be described. FIG. 14 is a cross-sectional view showing differences depending on the presence or absence of holes. For convenience, the same reference numerals are used for explanation. There is an effect of increasing the vertical length of the magnetic circuit by the magnet 24 and the magnet yoke 23. As described above, when not in use, the optical pickup 8 is retracted further outside the outer periphery of the disk. At that time, in order to move the slider portion away from the disk 1 in the height direction, the suspension load beam 62 is pushed downward in the drawing. Therefore, when there is no hole, a clearance enough to escape the vertical movement stroke of the suspension load beam 62 at the height of the magnetic circuit must be secured. Therefore, a sufficient magnetic circuit length cannot be secured for the drive coil 20.
On the other hand, in the case of the load beam with holes of this example, it is not necessary for the magnetic circuit to secure a gap due to the vertical movement stroke of the suspension load beam 62, and a sufficiently long magnetic circuit is ensured for the drive coil 20. be able to. As a result, the thrust of the drive coil 20 can be increased, and a change in thrust when the collimator lens actuator portion moves up and down can be suppressed to a small level.

This is the end of the description of each component unit. Next, returning to FIGS. 3 and 4, the overall assembly configuration will be described again.
The slider suspension portion and the collimator lens actuator portion are fixed by caulking or welding by inserting a launch portion 41 provided in the suspension mount portion 45 into the hole 42. The outer diameter of the punched portion 41 before crimping or welding and the inner diameter of the hole 42 are formed by a fitting gap of about 10 μm or less. After the slider suspension and the collimator lens actuator are assembled, they are clamped by the two notches 46 of the suspension mount 45, and the XYZ axes and the tilt are adjusted on the adjustment jig and fixed to the OP base plate 22. . Adhesion with the OP base plate 22 is performed by filling the gaps between the claw portions 43 provided on the support spring mount portion 47 and the convex portions 44 provided on the OP base plate 22 (each at four locations) with solder. Further, the gap between the throttle portion 52 of the OP base plate 22 and the launch portion 42 of the suspension mount portion 45 is also filled with solder in order to increase the rigidity. A method of filling with solder is possible with an adhesive, but solder is used for reasons such as increasing rigidity, ensuring the reliability of displacement due to temperature, and grounding.
The support spring mount 47 and the OP base plate 22 are preliminarily plated with a solder such as copper plating or solder plating. The fixing method of the slider suspension part and the collimator lens actuator part must be able to withstand this soldering heat. That is why caulking or welding is used.

Next, a method for manufacturing a small lens used in this example will be described.
FIG. 9 is a cross-sectional view showing a method for manufacturing a small lens. This is an existing technology called a mold process lens.
Similar to the production of a lens by a general glass mold, the plate glass 110 is formed into a concave lens 110A by the upper and lower molds 100A and 100B. Conventionally, when making a small mold lens, there is a limit to the size of a tool for processing a mold, and there is a restriction on miniaturization. However, since the mold is formed in a convex shape here, it is difficult to be restricted by the size of the cutting tool in the mold processing, and thus a small lens can be manufactured. A material 120 having a refractive index higher than that of glass such as niobium oxide is formed by sputtering so as to fill the concave portion of the molded glass.
Thereafter, polishing is performed until the high refractive index material 120 remains only in the concave portion of the glass. At that time, the glass surface side is also polished to adjust the glass thickness. The high refractive material portion created as described above functions as a convex lens 120A for the light transmitted through the glass surface. The collimator lens 15 is manufactured by such a method.
The flying slider 13 with the objective lens similarly forms a lens, and then affixes glass on the flat surface of the lens. A rail surface shape as a flying slider is formed on the outer surface of the pasted glass by a dry etching method such as ion milling. Finally, it is completed by cutting out into a slider shape. As the glass plate with a concave lens, glass formed by the process shown in FIG. 9 is used.

Next, the optical system of the optical pickup of this example will be described.
FIG. 8 is an explanatory diagram showing the principle of the optical system used in this example. The linearly polarized laser beam emitted from the semiconductor laser 27 is reflected upward by the 45-degree plane of the beam splitter 28. The laser light has its divergence angle enlarged by the concave lens 53 and enters the collimator lens 15. By making the divergence angle larger than that of the concave lens 53, the distance between the collimator lens 15 and the glass plate 16 with the concave lens can be shortened, which contributes to the thinning of the optical pickup.
In addition, the numerical aperture of the collimator lens can be increased, and when the vertical movement stroke of the collimator lens 15 is the same, larger focal position correction can be performed. The laser light is collimated by the collimator lens 15 and passes through the quarter wavelength plate 17. At that time, the polarization changes from linearly polarized light to circularly polarized light. Then, the light is condensed by the objective lens 61, passes through the glass slider, and is focused on the recording surface of the disk 1. The light reflected from the recording surface of the disk 1 returns to the same optical path as the row, and is converted into parallel light again by the objective lens 61.

  Thereafter, the light again passes through the quarter-wave plate 17 and is now returned from circularly polarized light to linearly polarized light. At this time, the linearly polarized light is changed to the linearly polarized light in the direction perpendicular to the previous polarization direction, and the polarization direction passes through the 45-degree plane of the beam splitter 28. The light that has passed through the 45-degree plane of the beam splitter 28 is refracted by the refractive index of the glass and projected onto a photodetector (PD) 29 as shown in FIG. Further, the light is reflected, reflected again on the upper surface of the beam splitter 28, and then projected onto the photodetector (PD) 30 again. This optical system is designed to focus on the upper surface of the beam splitter 28 when the recording surface of the disk is in focus. At that time, the spots of light projected on the two photodetectors (PD) 29 and 30 have the same amount of light. The light receiving surfaces of the photo detectors 29 and 30 are divided into four parts, and can be used for focus and tracking error detection. As an error detection method used in this example, a spot size method is used for focus, and a push-pull method is used for tracking.

Next, the tracking servo and focus servo of the optical pickup of this example will be described.
First, the tracking servo uses a system in which a rotating arm is driven by a voice coil motor. This is a common driving method for hard disk drives. Next, the focus servo performs disk surface fluctuation tracking by a flying slider generally used in a hard disk drive. When the disk 1 rotates, the air in the vicinity of the disk 1 also rotates at the same time and enters between the flying slider 13 with the objective lens and the disk 1. The flying slider 13 with the objective lens obtains a flying force by the pressure of the air, and maintains a certain flying height when it is just balanced with the load by the suspension 18. In this example, it is designed with a flying height of about 0.1 to 1 μm.

However, the flying height fluctuates due to a change in the linear velocity of the disk, an angular deviation with respect to the track of the slider, a surface deflection of the disk, and the like, and the focal position squeezed by the objective lens fluctuates. The focal position accuracy of the objective lens itself and the mechanical accuracy of the slider part also cause the focal position to shift. Furthermore, the data recording layer is not covered with the surface of the disk but covered with a cover coat layer (protective film layer). Therefore, when the signal is recorded / reproduced, the thickness error of the cover coat layer also causes defocusing.
The cover coat layer not only protects the data recording layer but also has a role of making it difficult for recording / reproducing errors to occur due to dust and scratches on the disk surface, and is essential for optical disks. In the case of this example, the cover coat layer is formed by spin coating with a thickness of about 20 μm. Although it depends on the disk diameter, thickness unevenness of about 5 to 10 μm or less occurs on the inner to outer periphery of the disk. Even within one circumference, thickness unevenness of about 1 μm or less occurs. If the total of these various focus errors falls within the focal depth of the laser spot, it is possible to cover the focus servo with only the flying slider, but that is impossible (the focal depth of the CD optical system is also ± 1 μm). ). Therefore, another means for correcting them is required, which is the collimator lens actuator of this example.

FIG. 16 is an explanatory diagram showing the principle of the collimator lens actuator of this example.
The collimator lens actuator can move the focal position focused by the objective lens 61 by moving the collimator lens 15 in the optical axis direction with respect to the integrated optical pickup unit 17. The amount of movement of the focal position depends on the numerical aperture of the objective lens 61 and the numerical aperture of the collimator lens 15. In this embodiment, the numerical aperture of the objective lens 61 is about 0.9, and the numerical aperture of the collimator lens 15 is about 0.3. From this calculation, in order to move the focal position by 1 μm, the movement amount of the collimator lens 15 is about 8 μm, and if the stroke of the collimator lens 15 can be secured by ± 160 μm, the focal position can be moved by about ± 20 μm.

Next, the optical pickup of this embodiment will be described in comparison with the conventional example shown in FIGS.
As described above, the optical pickup shown in FIG. 17 and FIG. 18 has a problem that the movable stroke of the focus position in the focus servo is small and the cost is high. It is driven by a voice coil motor, is inexpensive, has a large movable stroke at the focal position, and is also suitable for high-band servos. The DVD standard also defines a disc having two recording layers, and the distance between the two layers is about 20 μm. In the conventional example, as described above, the movable stroke of the focal position is at most ± 3 to 4 μm. However, in the present embodiment, in principle, ± 20 μm or more is possible. Therefore, this means that the optical pickup of this example can be applied to a two-layer disc.

FIG. 10 is an explanatory diagram showing light receiving area patterns of the photodetectors 29 and 30.
As shown in the figure, the light receiving areas of the two photodetectors 29 and 30 are each divided into four, and A33 to H40 are defined as shown in the figure. The circular shape drawn in the center of the photo detectors 29 and 30 is a spot of the return light projected on each photo detector. In addition, although it is drawn circularly in the figure, it is actually elliptical. Actually, the spot on the photodetector 29 has a horizontally long ellipse, and the spot on the photodetector 30 has a vertically long elliptical shape. There are two dark spots in the circular spot. This is a shadow formed by the interference of the first-order diffracted light by the pits on the disk with the zero-order diffracted light. The amount of light on the photodetector changes without the presence of the shadow, and the signal can be reproduced. This shadow is also used to generate a tracking error signal.
In the case of the pattern shown in FIG. 10, the tracking error signal is performed by the push-pull method, and is calculated by the equation (A + B + G + H) − (C + D + E + F). Here, the symbols A to H mean the light amounts of the divided photodetectors. Incidentally, the focus error signal uses the spot size method, and the calculation formula is represented by (A + D + F + G) − (B + C + E + H).

Since the optical pickup of the present example is a rotating arm type, when accessing the outer periphery from the inner periphery, an azimuth angle is generated with respect to the recording track. FIG. 11 shows changes in the spot shape on the photodetector when the azimuth angle is generated. When the azimuth angle is generated, the amplitude W of the tracking error signal calculated by the above-described equation decreases from W0 to W1 as shown in FIG. The fact that the amplitude of the tracking error becomes smaller depending on the access location means that the sensitivity of the tracking error signal becomes smaller. Furthermore, the S / N (Signal / Noise) ratio of the signal is also deteriorated. This means that as the azimuth angle increases, the tracking servo performance deteriorates.
Therefore, in this example, in order to minimize the azimuth angle generated when accessing the outer periphery from the inner periphery, the integrated OP unit 17 is preliminarily set so that the azimuth angle becomes 0 degrees at the approximate center (= medium periphery) of the access area. Tilt and arrange. Further, as shown in FIG. 13, when the azimuth angle is generated, the correction filter is calculated so as to compensate for the deterioration of the tracking error amplitude. The correction filter is represented by the azimuth angle on the horizontal axis and the magnification of the amplitude on the vertical axis. The correction filter graph is obtained by actual measurement.

  After calculation of the correction filter, the tracking error amplitude is made constant regardless of the azimuth angle. The relationship between the generated azimuth angle and the optical pickup position (radius R on the disk) is expressed by the following equation.

  Here, A and X are predetermined values in design. R can be known from the address signal read from the disk. As a result, when the address signal is read from the disk, the correction magnification of the tracking error can be known, and correction calculation can be performed. The focus error signal is also corrected by the same method because the same signal deterioration due to the azimuth angle occurs.

1 is a perspective view showing an overall configuration of an optical disc drive equipped with an optical pickup according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention. It is a perspective view which shows the whole structure of the rotation arm unit in the optical pick-up shown in FIG. It is a perspective view which shows the state which decomposed | disassembled the rotation arm unit shown in FIG. 2 for every component unit, and was seen from upper direction. It is a perspective view which shows the state which decomposed | disassembled the rotation arm unit shown in FIG. 2 for every component unit, and was seen from the downward direction. It is a disassembled perspective view which shows the detail of OP base part in the optical pick-up shown in FIG. It is a perspective view which shows the structure of the collimator lens actuator part in the optical pick-up shown in FIG. It is a perspective view which shows the structure of the slider suspension part in the optical pick-up shown in FIG. It is explanatory drawing which shows the principle of the optical system used with the optical pick-up shown in FIG. It is sectional drawing which shows the manufacturing method of the small lens used with the optical pick-up shown in FIG. It is explanatory drawing which shows the light-receiving region pattern of the photodetector used with the optical pick-up shown in FIG. It is explanatory drawing which shows the change of the spot shape on the photodetector shown in FIG. 10 when an azimuth angle generate | occur | produces. It is explanatory drawing which shows deterioration of the tracking error by generation | occurrence | production of an azimuth angle. It is explanatory drawing which shows a signal waveform in case deterioration of the tracking error by generation | occurrence | production of an azimuth angle is canceled by a correction filter. It is explanatory drawing which shows the difference in an effect | action by the presence or absence of the hole for escape provided in the suspension load beam. It is a top view which shows the hinge spring used with the optical pick-up shown in FIG. 1 in contrast with a prior art example. It is explanatory drawing which shows the principle of the collimator lens actuator used with the optical pick-up shown in FIG. It is sectional drawing which shows an example of the conventional optical pick-up. It is sectional drawing which shows the other example of the conventional optical pick-up.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Disk, 2 ... Cartridge, 3 ... Spindle motor, 4 ... Chassis, 5 ... Rotating arm unit, 6 ... Bearing shaft, 7 ... Magnetic circuit, 8 ... Optical pick-up, 9 ... Spring retainer, 10 ... Flexible substrate, 11 ... Electric circuit board, 12 ... Top cover, 13 ... Levitation slider with objective lens, 14 ... 1/4 wavelength plate, 15 ... Collimator lens, 16 ... Concave lens Cover glass, 17 ... Integrated optical pickup unit, 18 ... Suspension, 19 ... Support spring, 20 ... Drive coil.

Claims (16)

An integrated optical pickup unit including a semiconductor laser and an optical system for recording or reproducing a signal with an optical beam on an optical disc;
A rotating arm unit that supports the integrated optical pickup unit;
The rotating arm unit is mounted on one side surface of the optical pickup base plate on which the optical pickup base plate made of a thin metal plate in which a hole for arranging the optical pickup is formed on the tip end side and the integrated optical pickup unit are mounted. A semiconductor substrate that closes the hole and a transparent cover that is attached to the other side surface of the optical pickup base plate and closes the hole;
The hole of the optical pickup base plate is closed with a semiconductor substrate and a transparent cover to form a sealed space, and the integrated optical pickup unit on the semiconductor substrate is disposed in this space.
An optical pickup device characterized by that.   2. The optical pickup device according to claim 1, wherein the optical pickup base plate is made of a thin plate material of an iron alloy or a copper alloy.   2. The optical pickup device according to claim 1, wherein the transparent cover has a function as an optical component, and a plating thickness of the optical pickup base plate functions as a position adjusting unit of the optical component.   4. The optical pickup device according to claim 3, wherein the plating of the optical pickup base plate is a plating with solder.   5. The optical pickup device according to claim 4, wherein the plating applied to the solder is a copper plating or a solder plating.   The rotating arm unit is arranged with a predetermined inclination from the rotation center to the tip side, and the predetermined angle is approximately the center of the optical pickup access area on the optical disc, and the azimuth angle is an angle close to 0 degrees or 0 degrees. The optical pickup device according to claim 1, wherein the optical pickup device is set as follows.   7. The optical pickup device according to claim 6, further comprising a compensator that compensates for a change in the amplitude of the tracking error signal with respect to a change in the azimuth angle.   The optical pickup device according to claim 6, further comprising a compensator that compensates for a change in the amplitude of the focus error signal with respect to a change in the azimuth angle. An optical disk drive unit that holds and rotates the optical disk;
An integrated optical pickup unit including a semiconductor laser and an optical system for recording or reproducing a signal with an optical beam on an optical disc;
A rotating arm unit that supports the integrated optical pickup unit;
The rotating arm unit is mounted on one side surface of the optical pickup base plate on which the optical pickup base plate made of a thin metal plate in which a hole for arranging the optical pickup is formed on the tip end side and the integrated optical pickup unit are mounted. A semiconductor substrate that closes the hole and a transparent cover that is attached to the other side surface of the optical pickup base plate and closes the hole;
The hole of the optical pickup base plate is closed with a semiconductor substrate and a transparent cover to form a sealed space, and the integrated optical pickup unit on the semiconductor substrate is disposed in this space.
An optical disc device characterized by the above.   10. The optical disc apparatus according to claim 9, wherein the optical pickup base plate is made of a thin plate material of an iron alloy or a copper alloy.   10. The optical disc apparatus according to claim 9, wherein the transparent cover has a function as an optical component, and a plating thickness of the optical pickup base plate functions as a position adjusting unit of the optical component.   12. The optical disc apparatus according to claim 11, wherein the plating of the optical pickup base plate is a plating with solder.   13. The optical disc apparatus according to claim 12, wherein the solder plating is a copper plating or a solder plating.   The rotating arm unit is arranged with a predetermined inclination from the rotation center to the tip side, and the predetermined angle is approximately the center of the optical pickup access area on the optical disc, and the azimuth angle is an angle close to 0 degrees or 0 degrees. 10. The optical disc apparatus according to claim 9, wherein the optical disc apparatus is set as follows.   15. The optical disk apparatus according to claim 14, further comprising a compensator that compensates for the amplitude of the tracking error signal to be constant with respect to the change in the azimuth angle. 15. The optical disk apparatus according to claim 14, further comprising a compensator that compensates for the amplitude of the focus error signal to be constant with respect to the change in the azimuth angle.

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