JPH033237A - Method of polishing light-emitting element and polishing jig - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To allow the end surface of an optical fiber to approach the light emitting surface of LED as close as possible, by disposing/fixing at least three to-be-polished LEDs remotely, from each other and pressing/moving them to a common polish coat for simultaneous polishing. CONSTITUTION: A polishing jig 10 comprises a first clamp member 12, a secodn clamp member 14, a bolt 16 and a nut 18. The bolt 16 and the nut 18 connect and hold, the first and the second clamp members 12 and 14 detachable each other with LEDs 30, 32, and 34 held between the first and the second clamp members 12 and 14 of the polishing jig 10. Rough surfaces 70 at front end of LEDs 30, 33, and 34 are polished in polishing process, wherein the polishing jig 10 is reciprocally moved. The polishing process includes 8-shaped movement of the polishing jig 10 for a specified time on a polish coat such as fine silicon carbide or aluminum oxide particle, etc.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to a method and a polishing jig for polishing a light emitting element, and particularly to a method and a jig for simultaneously polishing front end surfaces of a plurality of light emitting elements.

[Prior art and its problems]

Emitted light from a light emitting device (hereinafter referred to as an LED) is incident on one end of an optical fiber for transmission to a light sensing (photosensitive) device through the optical fiber.

One well-known technique for this is to place a lens between the LED and the entrance end of the optical fiber to focus the light onto the end face of the optical fiber. As a result, most of the incident light is input to the end face of the optical fiber. Another method is to place the end face of the optical fiber in close contact with the light emitting surface of the LED to maximize the amount of light from the LED that enters through the end face of the optical fiber.

Using a lens to focus the emitted light from an LED is more expensive than contacting the end face of an optical fiber with the light emitting surface of the LED. Therefore, it is preferable to have a polishing method and jig for polishing the light emitting surface (front surface) of the LED so that the end surface of the optical fiber is brought as close as possible to the light emitting surface of the LED.

[Means for solving problems]

According to the method of simultaneously polishing the front end surfaces of a plurality of LEDs of the present invention, the steps include: arranging the leads of the device (LED) in the opening of the first clamping means; positioning a second clamping member in a protruding manner; holding the LED between the ends to releasably hold both clamping members together; and simultaneously holding the front ends of the plurality of LEDs against a common plane of the abrasive media. and a polishing step.

Further, the polishing jig for simultaneously polishing the front end surfaces of a plurality of LEDs according to the present invention includes a first clamp member into which the electrical leads of the plurality of LEDs are inserted, and a second clamp member having an opening for receiving the front ends of each of these LEDs. There is. The front end surface of each LED is configured to pass through the opening of the second clamp member and protrude outwardly from its flat outer surface to be polished.

Releasable retention means are provided for releasably retaining the first and second clamp members and each retaining a plurality of LEDs therebetween.

〔Example〕

The present invention will be described in detail below based on preferred embodiments of the present invention.

FIG. 1 shows an exploded perspective view of an LED polishing jig according to the present invention. The polishing jig 10 includes a first clamp member 12, a second clamp member 14, poles 1-16, and a nut 18. The first clamp member 12 has openings 20a and 20b.
, 22a, 22b, 24a, 24b, and has a flat inner surface 3
Electrical leads 26a from 8 to LED 32, 34, 36 respectively
, 26b28a, 28b, 30a, 30b are extended.

The opening 40 of the first clamp member 12 is the lead opening 20.
22. Receives the bolt 16 approximately centrally relative to 24. As the nut 18 is screwed into the bolt 16, it is attracted to its outer surface and holds the first and second clamping members 12.14 together.

The second clamping member 14 has an opening 44.46.48;
Leads of LEDs 32, 34 and 36 are open and openings 20 and 2, respectively.
2.24, the light emitting ends or front ends 50 of these LEDs are inserted. The second clamp member 14 has an opening 52 approximately in the center of these openings 44, 46, 48, and the first
The bolt 16 is inserted coaxially with the opening 40 of the clamp member 12 . Outer surface 5 of second clamp member 14
The circumference 54 of the opening 52 on the bolt 16 is formed in a conical shape and is formed therein to be complementary to the taper of the lower surface 58 of the head 60 of the bolt 16, so that the upper surface 62 of the head 60 of the bolt 16 is connected to the second clamp. It should be flush with the outer surface 56 of member 14. As a result, the bolt 16 and nut 18 releasably connect and hold the first and second clamp members 12.44 to each other, and the LEDs 30, 32 are connected between the first and second clamp members 12.14 of the abrasive polishing jig 10. .34.

The LED 30 shown in FIG. 2 is a typical commercially available LED 30,
It is 32.34. A substrate 64 is encased in a plastic capsule and has a generally hemispherical tip 66 at its front end 50 .

This tip 66 is cut by machining, sanding, or other well-known processes to the position shown by dotted line 68 in FIG. 2, resulting in the rough front end surface 70 shown in FIG. This rough surface 70 is spaced forward from the light emitting diode by at least a distance equal to or longer than the length to be scraped off in a grinding process to be described later. This polished front end surface is shown by dotted line 72 in FIG. 2 and by surface 74 in FIG. This polishing front end surface 74 may be at any position that provides a flat surface for the emitted light from the diode 64 but does not expose the substrate 64 to the air. This surface 74 is typically within about 0.5 a+m from the substrate 64.

The LED 30 is located on the bottom surface 7 from which the leads 26a and 26b are drawn out.
0 and an annular shoulder 78 opposite thereto. This shoulder 7
8 extends radially from the front end 50 of the LED 30 and is used to lock the LED 30 into the panel opening.

In the polishing jig 10, the bottom surface 76 of each LED abuts the flat inner surface 38 of the first clamp member 12. When the second clamping member 14 is placed over the front end of the LED 30, 32.34, the flat inner surface 80 of the second clamping member 14 (see FIG. 4)
abuts the shoulders 78 of the LEDs 30, 32, 34. When the nut 18 is tightened onto the bolt 16, the diode is held between the first and second clamping members 12, 14 of the polishing jig 10, with its front end 50 extending through the corresponding openings 44, 46, 48 of the second clamping member 14. The flat outer surface 56 of the second clamping member 14 is arranged for polishing, excluding any irregular material protruding from the surface and resulting from machining or the like of the roughened front surface 70.
at a certain distance from.

The front end rough surface 70 is polished by a polishing process in which a polishing jig IO is repeatedly moved. This polishing process is carried out by moving the polishing jig 10 typically in a figure 8 shape for a predetermined period of time on a polishing coating 82 made of fine silicon carbide or aluminum oxide particles, as shown in FIG. . Polishing may be performed in multiple steps using sequentially finer particles of abrasive material. Wet or dry sanding techniques may be used. Polishing coating 82 forms a flat surface. Here, the word "polishing" is L
This generally means further erosion of the front end surface of the ED. The axis of one or all of the LEDs 30, 32, 34 fixed to the polishing jig 10 is connected to the first or second clamping member 12.
14, one or more of the devices may have been ground more in the polishing process than the others, or the front end surface 74 of the LED may be flat but not exactly perpendicular to the axis of the device. Even if this is not the case, this is not much of a problem. As long as the polished front end surface 74 is flat and smooth, the optical fiber can be placed close enough to the light emitting substrate 64 to effectively introduce light into the optical fiber.

The polishing jig 10 can be made of any material and with any releasable clamp member retention means. In the preferred embodiment, the clamping member 12.14 is fabricated from an approximately 6.5 mm thick aluminum plate with an appropriately sized opening necessary to accommodate the LED leads and the front end of the device. is possible.

In the preferred embodiment, polishing jig 10 has three LEs for polishing.
Hold D. Since the surface can be determined using three points, polishing jig 1
0 three LEDs are polished at the same time. Therefore, after the polishing process is completed, there is no need to individually check whether the front end rough surface 70 of each device has been polished or not, and there is no need for the three rough surfaces 70 to be a common surface.

The polishing jig 10 is constructed by inserting the lead wires of a plurality of LEDs into the opening of the first clamp member 12, then placing the second clamp member 14 on top of the lead wires, and inserting the rough front end surface 70 of each LED into the opening. , the front end rough surface of each LED is spaced apart from the outer surface of the second clamp member.

Alternatively, the device may first project the front end of each LED into an opening in the second clamp member 12, then place the first clamp member 12 over the leads and attach each lead pair to the corresponding one of the first clamp member 12. into the opening. The two clamp members are releasably held and fixed to each other and hold a plurality of LEDs therebetween. In the next step, the front rough surfaces of the plurality of LEDs are simultaneously polished. Thereafter, the clamp member is released from the abrasive member and the LED is removed from the clamp member.

If the diameter of the LED (see FIG. 2) is larger than necessary, it can be reduced to a predetermined smaller diameter by any known technique. This step is generally followed by an end polishing operation.

Although the method and polishing jig for end faces of light emitting devices of the present invention have been described in detail with reference to preferred embodiments, the present invention should not be limited to these specific embodiments, and there is no need to deviate from the gist of the present invention. Of course, various modifications and changes are possible.

〔Effect of the invention〕

The present invention simultaneously polishes at least three LEDs to be polished by positioning and fixing them spaced apart from each other and moving them under a common polishing coating. As a result, since the surface to be polished is established by these plurality of LEDs, it is not necessary to check the front end surface of each LED after the polishing operation is completed, and there is an effect that a large number of LEDs can be reliably polished.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Figure 1 is an exploded perspective view of a polishing jig for light emitting elements according to the present invention, Figure 2 is an enlarged side view of an LED (light emitting element), and Figure 3 is a front view of each LED held and fixed in the polishing jig. A perspective view showing polishing. FIG. 4 is a side view of a polishing jig in which an LED is held and fixed, having two clamp members releasably fixed to each other. 10, Polishing jig 12, First clamp member 14, Second clamp member 30, 32, 34, Light emitting element (LED) 70,
, Polished surfaces 16, 18, Holding means 82, Polished coating

Claims (2)

[Claims] (1) By causing the surface to be polished to protrude from the opening and releasably holding and fixing a plurality of light emitting elements to a pair of substantially flat clamp members, and by moving the clamp members relative to the flat polishing surface. A light emitting device polishing method comprising simultaneously polishing the surfaces to be polished that protrude from the openings of the clamp members of the plurality of light emitting devices. (2) a flat first clamp member having an opening through which lead wires of a plurality of light emitting elements are inserted; and a second clamp member having an opening through which the surface to be polished of the light emitting elements protrudes.
a clamp member; and a holding means for releasably fixing the first and second clamp members to each other and holding the plurality of light emitting elements therebetween, the plurality of light emitting elements being spaced apart from each other and being covered. A polishing jig for a light emitting element, characterized by defining a polishing surface.