JPH0634852A - Simple optical coupling method for semiconductor laser and its device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To easily execute optical coupling by directly coupling a semiconductor laser and an optical fiber in the state of packaging paired chips and optically adjusting in position. CONSTITUTION:This data communication control system has the semiconductor laser 1 and an optical fiber terminal part 4 formed by inserting an optical fiber into a pipe having an offcentered central axis. The system has also a second substrate 7 which is embedded with the optical fiber terminal part 4 and has a slender V-groove 8 for fixing the optical fiber terminal part 4 to a prescribed position by rotationally adjusting this terminal part so as to align the central axis of the core of the optical fiber and the central axis of the active layer of the semiconductor laser 1 in a vertical direction and a first substrate 2 which is fixed and mounted with the semiconductor laser 1 by first solder 3 and fixes and mounts, by soldering, the second substrate 7 embedded and fixed with the optical fiber terminal part 4 to a prescribed position by sliding and adjusting the above-mentioned terminal part so as to align the central axis of the core of the optical fiber and the central axis of the active layer of the semiconductor laser 1 in a lateral direction.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a semiconductor laser simple optical coupling method and apparatus, and more particularly to a semiconductor laser simple optical coupling method and apparatus for directly coupling a semiconductor laser and an optical fiber.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Referring to FIG. 4, in a conventional semiconductor laser simple optical coupling method, output light from a semiconductor laser 1 is reconverted into an appropriate beam diameter via a coupling lens 20, and a core of an optical fiber 22 is converted. Is combined with. These are unitized and used as the optical module 21. However, downsizing and cost reduction of the optical communication device are indispensable especially in the optical subscriber system, and the conventional method of mounting the optical module as one unit on the optical panel reduces the size and cost of the device. Make it difficult. In order to facilitate this, there is a bare chip mounting method in which a semiconductor laser is handled as a chip, directly coupled with an optical fiber without using a coupling lens 20, and a drive circuit electric component is also mounted as a chip on, for example, a silicon substrate. . Referring to FIG. 5, the conventional semiconductor laser simple optical coupling device has a method of mounting the semiconductor laser 1 on the silicon substrate 22 using the solder bumps 3 when mounting the semiconductor laser on the silicon substrate, for example. This method is a self-alignment construction method and utilizes the property that the solder bumps 3 are rounded by the surface tension when the solder bumps 3 are melted. That is, first, since the semiconductor laser 1 is mounted at a predetermined position,
The bottom surface of the semiconductor laser 1 and the silicon substrate 22 in advance
Form a metallized surface of limited size on top of
The metallized surfaces are covered with the solder bumps 3. Next, by heating the silicon substrate 22 in a nitrogen gas atmosphere, the two metallized surfaces of the solder bump 3 are finely aligned by the surface tension, and as a result, the semiconductor laser 1 is mounted on the silicon substrate 22 with high accuracy. be able to. Therefore, by providing a silicon V groove 8 formed by selective etching for mounting and fixing the optical fiber 6 so as to be adjacent to the metallized surface of the silicon substrate 22, the semiconductor laser 1 and the light on the surface parallel to the silicon substrate 22 are provided. Alignment with the fiber 6 is possible with sub-micron accuracy.

[0003]

In this conventional semiconductor laser simple optical coupling method and apparatus, a silicon substrate 2 is used.
The position adjustment in the direction parallel to the two planes can be performed with high accuracy, but in the position adjustment in the vertical direction, the thickness of the solder bump 3 is uncertain and is caused by variations of several tens of microns (μm) or more and the structure of the semiconductor laser. There is a thickness variation of about 1 to 2 μm from the electrode surface to the active layer. Therefore, it is difficult to form the semiconductor laser 1 and the V groove 8 by selective etching on the same substrate in terms of positional accuracy.

[0004]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION A semiconductor laser simple optical coupling method and apparatus according to the present invention includes a semiconductor laser having a second metallized surface and an optical fiber having an optical fiber inserted in a pipe whose center axis is eccentric. And an elongated fiber having a first metallized surface on a first surface and embedding the optical fiber terminal on a second surface opposite to the first surface and fixing it at a predetermined position. A first substrate having a groove and a first surface having a third metallized surface, and mounting the semiconductor laser on the third metallized surface by soldering the second metallized surface to the third metallized surface. The first surface has a step on the first surface, the second surface has a fourth metallized surface, and the second surface has the first substrate on the first surface. Place the optical fiber on the center axis of the optical fiber and the semiconductor. And a second substrate to the solder securing said second metallization plane on said fourth metallization plane at a position where the active layer central axis of chromatography The match.

[0005]

The present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. Referring to FIG. 1, FIG. 2 and FIG. 3 showing an embodiment of the present invention together, a semiconductor laser simple optical coupling method and apparatus are provided, in which a semiconductor laser 1 whose lower surface is metallized with gold-zinc-gold is used. High temperature melting point first solder (solder bump) made of gold tin on the first substrate 2 of silicon material
It is fixed by 3. In this case, the first substrate 2 has been partially metallized beforehand with titanium-platinum-gold. The optical fiber end portion 4 is made of stainless steel, and the optical fiber 6 is inserted into a metal pipe 5 whose center is eccentric. This optical fiber end 4 comprises a second substrate 7 of silicon material.
It is placed on the V groove 8 formed by the selective etching method. In the optical coupling method with such a configuration, the active layer 9 and the core 10 of the semiconductor laser 1 fixed on the first substrate 2 are first rotated by rotating the optical fiber terminal portion 4 on the V groove 8. Adjust so that the heights are almost the same. Next, the horizontal direction is adjusted by sliding the second substrate 7 on the first substrate in the direction of the arrow. After positioning in this way, the first substrate 2 and the second substrate 7 are fixed with the second solder (solder bump) 11 made of lead tin.

In the above embodiments, the first and second substrate materials and the first and second solder materials are embodied for the sake of easy understanding of the description, but the materials are not particularly limited to these materials. Not to mention.

[0007]

As described above, according to the present invention, by using the optical fiber end portion formed by the optical fiber inserted in the eccentric metal pipe, the height direction adjustment is performed regardless of the thickness of the first solder. Since the first substrate can be slid on the second substrate to adjust in the lateral direction, the optical coupling between the semiconductor laser and the optical fiber terminal can be easily realized. In the embodiment of the present invention, an indium-phosphorus semiconductor laser having an oscillation wavelength of 1.55 μm is used, and a silica optical fiber having a cutoff wavelength of 1.21 μm is used to obtain an optical coupling efficiency value of about −6 dB.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a semiconductor laser simple optical coupling device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a side view showing the semiconductor laser simple optical coupling device according to the embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of an optical fiber terminal portion of the semiconductor laser simple optical coupling device of the same embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a conventional semiconductor laser simple optical coupling method.

FIG. 5 is a perspective view showing a conventional semiconductor laser simple optical coupling device.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Semiconductor Laser 2 First Substrate 3 First Solder 4 Optical Fiber Terminal 5 Metal Pipe 6 Optical Fiber 7 Second Substrate 8 V Groove 9 Active Layer 10 Core 11 Second Solder

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A central axis is eccentric to the groove of a first substrate having a first metallized surface on a first surface and an elongated groove on a second surface opposite to the first surface. A first assembly in which an optical fiber terminal having an optical fiber inserted therein is placed in the pipe, a second metallized surface is provided on a first surface, and the first surface is provided on the first surface side. A fourth surface on the second surface having steps
A second set in which a semiconductor laser having a third metallized surface on the first surface of a second substrate having a metallized surface is mounted by soldering the third metallized surface to the second metallized surface. A solid body, the first substrate of the first assembly is placed on the second surface of the second substrate of the second assembly on the first surface, and Direct optical coupling between the semiconductor laser and the optical fiber by sliding the first substrate on the second surface of the second substrate and rotating the optical fiber end portion on the groove of the first substrate. Is adjusted to solder the second metallized surface to the fourth metallized surface and fix the optical fiber end portion to the groove. 2. A semiconductor laser having a second metallized surface, an optical fiber end portion in which an optical fiber is inserted in a pipe whose center axis is eccentric, and a first metallized surface on the first surface. A first substrate having an elongated groove for embedding the optical fiber terminal portion and fixing it at a predetermined position on a second surface opposite to the first surface, and a third surface on the first surface. A second metallized surface of the semiconductor laser, the second metallized surface is soldered and mounted on the third metallized surface, and the step of the first surface is provided on the first surface side. Has a fourth metallized surface, the first substrate is placed on the second surface on the first surface of the first substrate, and the core central axis of the optical fiber and the semiconductor laser On the fourth metallized surface at a position where the central axis of the active layer coincides A second substrate for fixing the second metallized surface by soldering, and a semiconductor laser simple optical coupling device comprising: