JPH06109952A - Production of optical fiber array - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide the process for production of the optical fiber array with ease of assembly without generating a polishing angle defect and chipping defect. CONSTITUTION:Several groups of optical fiber housing grooves 11 and level difference grooves 13 in a direction perpendicular thereto are formed on one sheet of wafer 10. On the other hand, horizontally long upper integrating substrates 14 formed with coating part housing grooves on their rear surfaces are previously produced. These substrates are adhered to the level difference grooves 13 of the wafer 10. After optical fibers are inserted into respective groups of the optical fiber housing grooves 11, the front surfaces thereof are fixed by optical fiber fixing substrates 16. After the end faces thereof are polished, the substrates are cut in the direction parallel with the optical fiber housing grooves 11 to chips. The optical fiber array is thus produced.

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 array used for aligning and fixing optical fibers when the optical fibers are connected to optical elements.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A conventional optical fiber array used for connecting an optical fiber and an optical element comprises a V-groove substrate 50 and an upper substrate 51 as shown in FIG. 50 is an optical fiber storage groove for storing a bare fiber
52 and a counterbore 53 for accommodating the optical fiber coating.
And a counterbore portion 54 for accommodating the coating portion of the optical fiber on the lower surface of the upper substrate 51.

However, in such a conventional optical fiber array, since it is necessary to ultrasonically machine the counterbore portions 53 and 54 on ceramics or the like, it takes time and cost for machining, and the counterbore portions 53 and 54 are large. Since it is made, the tip of the optical fiber may not fit correctly into the optical fiber storage groove 52,
There is a problem that a positional shift may occur between the V-groove substrate 50 and the upper substrate 51.

In order to solve such a problem, the present inventor first invented an optical fiber array having a structure as shown in FIG. 6, and has applied for a patent as Japanese Patent Application No. 4-142682. This is a V-groove substrate 1 in which an optical fiber housing groove 7 is formed in the upper flat surface 4 and a lower flat surface 6 is provided on the upper flat surface 4 via a step 5, and a bare fiber is fixed on the upper flat surface 4 by fixing it. It is composed of a fiber fixing substrate 2 and an upper substrate 3 which is placed on the lower plane 6 and fixes the coating portion of the optical fiber, and is easier to process than that of FIG. 5 is used to easily position the upper substrate 3 with respect to the V-groove substrate 1.

After that, however, it was found that this optical fiber array had the following problems in practical use. The upper substrate 3 is positioned with respect to the V-groove substrate 1 by using the step 5
It can be easily done in the vertical direction by using, but it takes time to position in the horizontal direction. Since it is necessary to polish the end surface at a right angle to the optical fiber housing groove 7, the end surface of the V-groove substrate 1 is used as a reference surface for polishing. It must be outside. However, if the upper substrate 3 is slightly displaced and its end face comes out, the polishing reference plane cannot be accurately secured, resulting in a defective polishing angle. The adhesive that adheres the upper substrate 3 to the V-groove substrate 1 is likely to seep out to the reference surface, and chipping defects are likely to occur when removing this by post-processing.

[0006]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention solves the above-mentioned problems of the optical fiber array of the prior application, can significantly reduce the number of assembling steps, has no polishing angle defect, and has no adhesive bleeding. The present invention has been completed in order to provide a method for manufacturing an optical fiber array that can prevent chipping defects caused by the ejection.

[0007]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention, which has been made to solve the above-mentioned problems, provides a wafer provided with several groups of optical fiber housing grooves and step grooves formed at right angles to the grooves. A horizontally elongated upper integrated substrate having a covering portion storage groove formed on the lower surface of the wafer at a position corresponding to each optical fiber storage groove is aligned and bonded to the step groove, and then the optical fibers of each group are bonded. The optical fiber is inserted into the housing groove, the upper surface is fixed with an optical fiber fixing substrate, and the end face is polished, and then cut in a direction parallel to the optical fiber housing groove to form a chip.

[0008]

The present invention will be described in more detail below with reference to the illustrated embodiments. First, as shown in FIG. 1, one wafer made of ceramic is coated on the upper surface of the glass plate 8 with wax 9.
10 is fixed, and several groups of optical fiber housing grooves 11 are formed in parallel on the upper surface of the wafer 10. In the embodiment, four groups of optical fiber housing grooves 11 corresponding to the five-core optical fiber are formed. This grooving can be performed accurately and efficiently with a grinding wheel. Next, these optical fiber storage grooves
A step groove 13 is formed with a step 12 in a direction perpendicular to 11. Although the number is two columns in the embodiment, it can be arbitrarily increased or decreased and may be one column. As a result, a wafer as shown in FIG. 1 is obtained. However, such a wafer manufacturing method is not limited to the embodiment, and a method of forming several groups of optical fiber housing grooves 11 in parallel on the wafer 10 having the step groove 13 may be adopted.

Separately from this, a horizontally long upper integrated substrate 14 as shown in FIG. 2 is prepared. This upper integrated substrate 14
4 has a plurality of upper substrates 15 integrated as shown in FIG. 4, and has a 2 × 4 upper substrate 15 integrated shape in the embodiment. Each upper substrate 15 has a gate-like shape, and the lower surface of the center thereof corresponds to the above-mentioned optical fiber storage groove 11,
A coating portion housing groove for housing the coating portion of the optical fiber is formed. Further, in this embodiment, the semicircular resin injection groove 17 is formed in each upper substrate 15. By thus forming the resin injection groove 17 in the R shape, the contraction stress generated at the time of curing the adhesive can be relaxed and the generation of cracks can be prevented. However, this resin injection groove 17 is not an essential requirement of the present invention.

As shown in FIG. 2, the upper integrated substrate 14 is accurately bonded and fixed to the step groove 13 of the wafer 10 using an adhesive such as epoxy resin. In the embodiment, thereafter, the upper integrated substrate 14 and the wafer 10 are formed in a direction perpendicular to the optical fiber housing groove 11 as shown by a chain line in FIG.
And disconnect simultaneously. As a result, an elongated intermediate product as shown in the lower part of FIG. 3 is obtained.

Next, when a multi-core (5-core in the embodiment) optical fiber is inserted from the groove for accommodating the covering portion between the upper integrated substrate 14 and the wafer 10, the bare fiber portion at the tip of each optical fiber becomes accurate. In the positioned state, it enters the optical fiber storage groove 11 of the wafer 10. After the bare fiber portion is housed in the optical fiber housing groove 11 in this manner, an optical fiber fixing substrate 16 as shown in FIG. 3 is adhered to the optical fiber housing groove 11 to fix the bare fiber portion. In the embodiment, the optical fiber fixing substrate 16 is made up of four pieces.
By using the individual optical fiber fixing substrates 16 as described above, the bare fiber portion can be accurately fixed regardless of variations in the optical fiber housing groove 11 and the optical fiber diameter.
However, a deviation of about 2 to 10 μm may be allowed depending on the application, and in such a case, it is possible to use the optical fiber fixing substrate 16 having four continuous optical fibers.

After the steps described above, the shape shown in FIG. 4 is obtained, and the end face is then polished. In the embodiment, this end surface polishing can be performed for four pieces at the same time, and the polishing time can be shortened significantly. After the polishing is completed, the upper integrated substrate 14 and the wafer 10 are simultaneously cut in the direction parallel to the optical fiber storage groove 11 to form a chip, as shown by a chain line in FIG. As a result, the optical fiber storage groove 11
The bare fiber portion is housed in and fixed by the optical fiber fixing substrate 16, and the covering portion of the optical fiber is the upper integrated substrate 14
A plurality of optical fiber arrays with optical fibers fixed by the upper substrate 15 which has been cut are obtained at the same time. This optical fiber array is conventionally used to connect an optical fiber with other optical equipment.

[0013]

As described above, according to the method of manufacturing the optical fiber array of the present invention, the following many advantages can be obtained as compared with the conventional method. In the past, the upper substrate 3 was individually processed and cut one by one, whereas in the present invention, a large number of optical fiber arrays can be manufactured by cutting the upper integrated substrate 14 at one time. The man-hours and time can be significantly reduced. In particular, the work of fixing the individual upper substrates 3 which requires a large number of processes for processing is eliminated, and the assembly time can be greatly reduced. Upper integrated substrate 14 and optical fiber fixed substrate on wafer 10.
Since the whole is cut after the 16 and 16 are bonded and assembled, there is a complete gap between the V groove substrate cut from the wafer 10, the upper substrate 15 cut from the upper integrated substrate 14 and the optical fiber fixing substrate 16. It can be lost in Since the cutting is performed after the assembly is completed, the adhesive can be completely prevented from protruding. For this reason, there is no chipping or scratches due to the work of removing the adhesive and the strength deterioration,
It is possible to obtain a clean product without deterioration in appearance. Since it is possible to polish several pieces at a time, it is possible to significantly reduce the polishing work. Assembling several pieces at once improves workability,
As for the adjustment of the optical fiber fixing substrate 16, the lateral deviation up to the cutting width (for example, 1 mm) can be absorbed by cutting, so that the adjustment becomes easier as compared with the conventional method. If the continuous optical fiber fixing substrate 16 can be used, the number of steps can be further reduced.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a state where a groove is formed on a wafer.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing a state in which an upper integrated substrate is bonded to a wafer.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing an optical fiber fixed substrate and a state in which the bonded wafer and upper integrated substrate are cut in a direction perpendicular to the optical fiber housing groove.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing a state in which the bonded wafer, upper integrated substrate and optical fiber fixing substrate are cut into chips.

FIG. 5 is a perspective view showing a conventional optical fiber array.

FIG. 6 is a perspective view showing an optical fiber array of the prior application.

[Explanation of symbols]

 10 Wafer 11 Optical fiber storage groove 13 Step groove 14 Upper integrated substrate 16 Optical fiber fixed substrate

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A wafer having several groups of optical fiber storage grooves and a step groove formed in a direction perpendicular to the optical fiber storage grooves is manufactured, and a wafer is formed on the lower surface of the wafer at a position corresponding to each optical fiber storage groove. The horizontally-long upper integrated substrate having the covering portion accommodating groove is aligned with the step groove and bonded, and then the optical fiber is inserted into the optical fiber accommodating groove of each group. A method for manufacturing an optical fiber array, which comprises fixing and, after polishing the end face, cutting in the direction parallel to the optical fiber housing groove to form a chip.