JPH07113924A - Optical circuit parts and its production - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To improve a property to bond, fix and package an optical waveguide, optical fibers and semiconductor element and to make a cost low and productivity high by integrally constituting the optical waveguide and reference grooves for fixing the optical fibers on one transparent substrate. CONSTITUTION:The optical fiber fixing grooves 3 for fixing the optical fibers 2 and the optical waveguide 4 communicating therewith are formed on the transparent glass or resin substrate 1. Further, a light emitting element 5, a light receiving element 6, electrode wirings 7 and an electronic circuit 8 or semiconductor element, IC, or LSI are packaged to constitute the optical circuit parts in such a manner that processing of electric signals for signal transmission and reception is executed. Then, the optical circuit parts are produced by integrating the light transmitter and receiver to one module. The optical fibers 2 transmit and receive the light signals. The light emitting element 5 and the light receiving element 6 are optically coupled in the optical waveguide part 4. The modulation of the light emitting element 5 by the transmission signals and the amplification and remodulation, etc., of the signals from the signal receiving element 6 are executed in the electronic circuit 8.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to optical communication, and more particularly, to an optical circuit component and a method for manufacturing the same, in which the optical waveguide and the optical fiber in a module using the optical waveguide are coupled and fixed to a semiconductor element, and mounting is improved.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, the development of optical communication has been remarkable and has been applied and put to practical use in public communication, CATV, computer networks and the like. However, from the point of view of parts, it has only a few days of practical application, and there are many problems in terms of size reduction and mass productivity for wider spread.
For example, an optical transceiver is composed of a semiconductor laser as a light emitting element, a laser drive circuit, a light receiving element, a demodulation circuit, and an optical fiber. It is necessary to adjust and assemble each optical and electrical component with high precision. It takes man-hours. In order to further popularize the optical communication system, there is a demand for miniaturization, multifunctionalization, integration and cost reduction of optical circuit components. Particularly, in introducing a subscriber optical communication system, downsizing and cost reduction of optical circuit components are indispensable.

On the other hand, as a function required for this subscriber system, a function such as wavelength division multiplex transmission and bidirectional transmission is required by utilizing the wide band property of the optical communication. Several optical packaging circuit boards using an optical waveguide have been proposed. A quartz optical waveguide having a desired function is formed on a silicon substrate by a flame deposition method, and a metal electrode is further wired to mount a semiconductor element, an electric circuit, or the like. An optical fiber is mounted on a substrate having a V groove formed. An optical module is formed by connecting the arranged elements. (For example, JP-A-5-60952, JP-A-61-245594, JP-A-5-27140, and JP-A-5-60940)

[0004]

However, in these optical circuit parts, as shown in FIG. 6, the optical waveguide 63, the light emitting element 67, the light receiving element 65, the optical waveguide substrate 61 having the electrode wiring 64, and the optical fiber 68 are provided. The groove substrate 62 for fixing is separated. In order to couple the optical waveguide 63 and the optical fiber 68 with low loss, adjustment, assembly and fixing of 1 μm or less are required. V of the groove substrate 62 for fixing the optical fiber 68
Since the selective etching of the silicon substrate and the cutting method of the ceramic substrate are used for forming the groove, there is a drawback that the processing accuracy and mass productivity are poor. Although a V-groove with high accuracy can be formed on a silicon substrate by etching, the V-groove is limited to the V-shape, so that it has a drawback of low degree of freedom. Furthermore, when the materials of the optical waveguide substrate 61 and the groove substrate 62 are different, the linear expansion coefficient is different, so that they are vulnerable to temperature fluctuations. Also,
When mounting a semiconductor element or an electric component on a silicon substrate, it is necessary to form an insulating layer on the substrate. Even if the semiconductor element is directly formed on the silicon substrate, the optical waveguide 63
Since the area of the part becomes large, the number of elements that can be obtained from one wafer is reduced, and there is no cost merit due to the semiconductor process.

In view of the above-mentioned problems, the present invention provides an optical circuit component having a good coupling property between an optical waveguide, an optical fiber, and a semiconductor element, and good mountability, and a method for manufacturing the same.

[0006]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the optical circuit component of the present invention comprises a structure for molding an optical waveguide part and an optical fiber fixing part on one transparent substrate, and a manufacturing method for molding using a mold material. To do.

[0007]

The present invention provides an integrated optical circuit component which can be positioned with high precision and which is low in cost and good in productivity by the above-described structure and manufacturing method.

[0008]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An optical circuit component of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 shows an optical transceiver module component according to a first embodiment of the present invention. Reference numeral 1 in the figure denotes a transparent glass or resin substrate, which has an optical fiber fixing groove 3 for fixing the optical fiber 2 and an optical waveguide portion 4 connected to the groove 3, and further includes a light emitting element 5 and a light receiving element 6. , Electrode wiring 7, electronic circuit 8 or semiconductor element, I
C and LSI are mounted, and processing of electric signals for transmission and reception is performed. In this embodiment, an optical transmitter and a receiver are integrated into a module. More specifically, the optical fiber 2 transmits and receives optical signals, and the optical waveguide section 4 couples light with the light emitting element 5 and the light receiving element 6. In the electronic circuit 8, the light emitting element 5 according to the transmission signal
And the amplification and demodulation of the signal from the light receiving element 6.

FIG. 2 shows the manufacturing process of the present invention. First, the optical fiber fixing groove 3 and the optical waveguide portion 4 are molded on the transparent glass or resin substrate 1 with a mold material (not shown) (FIGS. 2a and 2b). The optical waveguide may form a convex rib type waveguide, or may be concave and filled with a transparent material having a value higher than the refractive index of the transparent substrate 1. Further, it is not necessary to directly form the optical waveguide, and only the flat substrate molding of the optical waveguide portion 4 forming the optical waveguide may be performed, and the optical waveguide may be formed by another method according to desired characteristics.
In this case, preferably, an optical waveguide is formed by another mold material, or a silica-based waveguide is formed by a flame deposition method, an optical waveguide is formed by an ion exchange method, a waveguide is formed by a sputtering method, an optical waveguide made of a polymer resin material. And an organic crystal optical waveguide are formed.

Alternatively, the fiber fixing groove may be formed by molding a transparent glass or resin substrate on which an optical waveguide has already been formed by changing the steps. Next, an electrode pattern is formed on the substrate 1, and the light emitting element 5, the light receiving element 6, and the electronic circuit 8 are mounted (FIGS. 2c and 2d). Since it is not necessary to form an insulating layer between the substrate 1 and the electrode wiring 7 by using a non-conductive material such as glass or resin for the substrate 1,
The process is simplified. For electronic circuit components and the like, the components can be assembled without adjustment by fixing the optical fiber in the optical fiber fixing groove 3 by using the self-aligned flip-chip method in which the chip is directly mounted on the substrate 1.

The fibers may be fixed by adhesive fixing. As a result, an optical transmitter / receiver module component in which a transmitter and a receiver are formed on one substrate 1 is formed. Further, although the transmitter and the receiver are integrated in the present embodiment, the present invention is not limited to this, and a transmitter and a receiver may be used alone.

2A and 2B, the optical fiber fixing groove 3 may be formed by using a substrate on which the optical waveguide portion 4 is already formed as the substrate 1. The substrate may be formed by injection molding a resin or glass substrate material directly.

A second embodiment of the present invention is shown in FIG. In the figure, 31 is a transparent substrate, and an optical fiber 32.
A groove 33 for fixing an optical fiber and a bidirectional optical waveguide portion 34 for fixing the optical fiber, a light emitting element 35, a light receiving element 36,
The electrode wiring 37 and the electronic circuit 38 are mounted so as to process an electric signal transmitted and received. The feature of this product is that the optical waveguide part 34 is bidirectional.
The optical fiber 32 of the book is capable of transmitting and receiving.

The manufacturing method is the same as in the above embodiment. Further, by adding functions such as modulation and wavelength selection switch to the optical waveguide section 34, various functional modules can be obtained.

A third embodiment of the present invention is shown in FIG. 41 in the figure is a transparent substrate, and an optical fiber 42
The optical fiber fixing groove 43 for fixing the optical waveguide part 4
4 is formed, and the light emitting element array or the light receiving element array 4 is formed.
5, the electrode wiring 46 and the electronic circuit 47 are mounted, and this is an optical module component for parallel multi-channel transmission of signals. The feature of this product is that a plurality of transmitters or receivers can be easily mounted on one substrate. The manufacturing method is the same as in the first embodiment.

FIG. 5 shows an optical coupler according to the fourth embodiment of the present invention. Reference numeral 51 in the figure is a transparent substrate, and an optical fiber fixing groove 5 for fixing the optical fibers 52 and 54.
3, 55 and the optical waveguide portion 56 are formed, and the optical waveguide has a branch coupling function. In this case, the optical fibers 52 and 54 can be assembled and mounted without alignment.
The manufacturing method is almost the same as that of the first embodiment, and the electrode wiring and the electronic circuit mounting are unnecessary. However, the optical waveguide part 5
Optical fibers 52 and 54 on the input side and the output side of 6 respectively
And fixing grooves 53 and 55 are required.

[0017]

As is apparent from the above description of each embodiment, the present invention has a structure in which an optical waveguide and a reference groove for fixing an optical fiber are formed on one transparent substrate and by molding with a mold material, It is possible to provide an optical circuit component excellent in mass productivity at a cost.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of an optical circuit component according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing a manufacturing process of the optical circuit component according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a configuration diagram of an optical circuit component according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a configuration diagram of an optical circuit component according to a third embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a configuration diagram of an optical circuit component according to a fourth embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram of a conventional optical circuit component.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 substrate 2 optical fiber 3 groove for fixing optical fiber 4 optical waveguide section 5 light emitting element 6 light receiving element 7 electrode wiring 8 electronic circuit

Claims (11)

[Claims] 1. An optical circuit component, characterized in that an optical waveguide portion and a reference groove for fixing one or more optical fibers are integrally formed on a transparent substrate. 2. The optical circuit component according to claim 1, wherein an optical fiber, a waveguide and an electronic circuit are mounted on a transparent substrate. 3. An optical circuit component comprising a transparent substrate on which a substrate portion for forming an optical waveguide and a reference groove for fixing one or more optical fibers are integrally formed. 4. The optical circuit component according to claim 3, wherein an optical fiber, a waveguide and an electronic circuit are mounted on a transparent substrate. 5. The optical circuit component according to claim 1, wherein the transparent substrate is a glass substrate. 6. The optical circuit component according to claim 1, wherein the transparent substrate is a resin substrate. 7. A mold material having a molding mold part of a convex or concave molding part on a surface is obtained, and a reference groove for fixing an optical waveguide part and one or more optical fibers is integrally molded by the mold material. A method for manufacturing an optical circuit component, which is characterized by the above. 8. A method of manufacturing an optical circuit component, characterized in that a transparent substrate having an optical waveguide portion and a reference groove for fixing an optical fiber is formed by injection molding. 9. The method of manufacturing an optical circuit component according to claim 7, wherein the optical fiber, the waveguide, and the electronic circuit are mounted on a transparent substrate. 10. A method of manufacturing an optical circuit component according to claim 7, wherein glass is used for the transparent substrate. 11. A method of manufacturing an optical circuit component according to claim 7, wherein a resin is used for the transparent substrate.