JPH11142673A - Optical fiber array - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an optical fiber array which holds an optical fiber with high precision by preventing an adhesive from peeling off at a projection part when an environment test is conducted and supporting the optical fiber in a sandwiched state with a substrate and a pressure member. SOLUTION: Optical fibers 30 are fitted and arranged in V grooves 25 formed in a substrate 22, the substrate 22 and optical fibers 30 are coated with an adhesive, and the optical fibers are sandwiched between the substrate 22 and a pressure member 26. When the substrate 22, pressure member 26, and optical fibers 30 are adhered and fixed in one body, the surfaces of projection parts 23b of the substrate 22 which face the pressure member 26 across the adhesive are roughened.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

[0001] The present invention relates to a plurality of optical fibers respectively fitted in a plurality of V-grooves juxtaposed on a substrate and arranged, and the optical fiber is sandwiched between the substrate and a holding member. The present invention relates to an optical fiber array formed by integrally fixing a substrate, the pressing member, and the optical fiber.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As a conventional optical fiber array, an optical fiber is aligned with each V-groove of a V-groove array of a substrate processed with high precision, an adhesive is applied onto the substrate and the optical fiber, and an adhesive is applied from above. The substrate, the optical fiber, and the holding plate are integrally bonded and fixed by being held by the holding plate. Here, for example, a glass plate is used as the substrate, and the surface of the glass plate is mirror-polished, and a V-groove is formed in the mirror-polished surface. The convex portions between the adjacent V-grooves are not processed and are in a state of being mirror-polished. Due to the demand for miniaturization and the like, the space between adjacent V-grooves is narrow, so that the area of the surface of the convex portion is reduced. Further, it is generally known that the volume of the adhesive shrinks by several percent after curing.

[0003]

However, in such a conventional optical fiber array, when the adhesive hardens and its volume shrinks, a tensile stress is generated due to the shrinkage. In addition, since the unprocessed convex portion of the substrate is maintained in a mirror-polished state, the surface state of the convex portion is smooth, not rough, and its surface area (bonding area) is small. Further, as described above, there is a limit in increasing the surface area (adhesion area) of the convex portion due to a demand for miniaturization or the like. As a result, when sufficient adhesive strength is not obtained, when an environmental resistance test such as a heat cycle and a water resistance test is performed, the adhesive is peeled off at the convex portion, and when the adhesive is peeled, the optical fiber is removed. Cannot be maintained with high accuracy.

On the other hand, since the convex portion of the substrate is not directly related to the positioning of the optical fiber, even if the convex portion is left unprocessed, it adversely affects the alignment accuracy of the optical fiber. No need.

The present invention has been made in view of such a conventional problem. By treating the surface of a convex portion of an optical fiber substrate into a rough surface, the surface area (adhesion area) of the convex portion is reduced. An object of the present invention is to provide an optical fiber array which is wide and has sufficient adhesive strength at a convex portion, prevents peeling of an adhesive, and has excellent environmental resistance.

[0006]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, which has been made to solve the above-mentioned problems, a plurality of optical fibers 3 are provided in a plurality of V-grooves 25 arranged in parallel on a substrate 22.
0 are fitted and arranged, and the optical fiber array 20 is formed by bonding and fixing the optical fiber 30 between the substrate 22 and the holding member 26 in the optical fiber array 20.
The surface portion 23 has a concave portion formed by the plurality of V-grooves 25 and a convex portion 23 b located between adjacent V-grooves 25 in the plurality of V-grooves 25. 2
3b is formed on a rough surface, the adhesive is applied to the surface portion 23 including the concave and convex portions 23b of the substrate 22 and the optical fiber 30, and the pressing member 26 is
The optical fiber array 20 is characterized in that the optical fibers 30 arranged in the plurality of V-grooves 25 are adhesively fixed while being sandwiched between the substrates 22.

According to the first aspect of the present invention, a plurality of optical fibers 30 are fitted and arranged in a plurality of V-grooves 25 arranged side by side on the substrate 22, and an adhesive is applied on the substrate 22 and the optical fibers 30. Then, the optical fiber 30 is bonded and fixed between the substrate 22 and the pressing member 26 with the optical fiber 30 interposed therebetween.

At this time, since the surface of the convex portion 23b of the substrate 22 is rough, the surface area of the convex portion 23b becomes relatively large, and even if the adhesive shrinks after curing, the convex portion 23b can be formed. When the environment resistance test is performed while maintaining the adhesive strength at 23b sufficient, the adhesive is prevented from peeling off at the convex portion 23b, and the substrate 22 and the pressing member 26 are prevented.
Thus, the optical fiber 30 can be maintained in a state sandwiched therebetween, and the optical fiber 30 can be maintained with high accuracy.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, which has been made to solve the above problem, a plurality of optical fibers 30 are fitted and arranged in a plurality of V-grooves 25 arranged in parallel on a substrate 22, respectively. In the optical fiber array 2 in which the optical fibers 30 are bonded and fixed with the substrate 22 and the holding member 26 sandwiched therebetween, the surface 23 of the substrate 22 is roughly polished, and the surface 23 of the substrate 22 is Process the groove 25,
While forming the plurality of V-grooves 25, the plurality of V-grooves 2
5, the convex portion 23b located between the adjacent V grooves 25
Characterized in that the surface of the projection 23b is maintained in the rough polished state.
It is.

According to the invention described in claim 2, the substrate 22
Of the substrate 22 is roughly polished,
b is located between adjacent V-grooves 25 in the plurality of V-grooves 25, and is maintained in a roughly polished state without being processed in the V-groove 25 processing.

As a result, the surface area (adhesion area) of the convex portion 23b becomes relatively large, and similarly, even when the adhesive shrinks after curing, the adhesive strength at the convex portion 23b is maintained at a sufficient level. Thus, the optical fiber 30 can be maintained with high accuracy.

The protruding portion 23b of the substrate 22 is maintained in a state of being roughly polished.
The surface state of the material 2 is not processed as it is,
In the case where it can be used as the surface state of b, the step of processing the surface of the convex portion 23b can be omitted, and as a result, the manufacturing cost can be reduced.

[0013] In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the invention according to claim 3 made according to the present invention is claim 1 or claim 2.
In the optical fiber array described in (1), the surface roughness of the projection 23b of the substrate 22 is 0.5 to 2.0 μm.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, the substrate 22
Since the surface roughness of the projection 23b is 0.5 to 2.0 μm, it is sufficient to increase the surface area (adhesion area) of the projection 23b, and the surface of the projection 23b has a surface roughness of 0.5 to 2.0 μm. The roughness is the surface state of the material of the substrate 22 that has been roughly polished. If the surface state of the material is used as it is as the surface of the convex portion 23b, the number of steps for surface processing of the convex portion 23b can be reduced.

[0015]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. Each drawing shows the first embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 1 is an exploded perspective view showing an optical fiber array according to one embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing the optical fiber array. FIG. 3 is a sectional view showing the optical fiber array.

1 and 2, an optical fiber array 20 according to the present embodiment includes a substrate 22, a pressing member 26, and a plurality of optical fibers 30. The optical fibers 30 according to the present embodiment are covered with a resin coating material 32 (such as nylon) in a state where four optical fibers 30 are arranged side by side. Coated in this manner is a fiber ribbon (five).
r ribbon) or tape ribbon. The surface portion 23, which is the upper surface portion of the substrate 22, is formed by rough polishing, and has a mount portion 23a one step higher at one end. A V-groove array 24 is formed in a mount portion 23 a of a surface portion 23 of the substrate 22.

The V-groove array 24 has a plurality (4
) V-grooves 25 are recessed. Each V-groove 25 is formed by V-groove processing so that the groove directions are parallel to each other, and the optical fibers 30 fitted into the V-groove 25 are aligned. The convex portion 23b located between the V groove 25 which is a concave portion and the adjacent V groove 25 is formed in a trapezoidal cross-sectional shape, and the upper bottom surface portion 23c corresponding to the upper bottom of the trapezoid is formed by V groove processing. The surface is rough-polished (the surface of the surface portion 23) without being subjected to the polishing.

The surface accuracy of the upper bottom surface portion 23c of the convex portion 23b is as follows.
Since there is nothing to do with the positioning of the optical fiber 30, there is no problem even if the surface is rough-polished. The surface roughness of the upper bottom surface portion 23c of the convex portion 23b is desirably 0.5 to 2.0 μm. In order to obtain such a degree of surface roughness, the surface portion 23 of the substrate 22 is generally polished by a polishing machine. However, even when polished with # 1000 abrasive paper, such a level of surface roughness is obtained. be able to. The pressing member 26 is formed in a flat plate shape, is composed of a thick plate portion 27 having the same length as the mount portion 23a, and a thin plate portion 27a following the thick plate portion 27, and has the same width as the substrate 22. ing.

As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the end of the fiber ribbon to be sandwiched between the mounting portion 23a of the substrate 22 and the thick plate portion 27 of the pressing member 26 is made of a resin coating material 3.
2 is removed and the optical fiber 30 is exposed to the outside.
The exposed end 34 of the optical fiber 30 is
Is substantially equivalent to the length of the V-shaped groove 25 formed in the mount portion 23a, and is fitted in the V-shaped groove. An adhesive is also applied to the mount 23 a of the substrate 22 and the end 34 (exposed portion) of the optical fiber 30, and the adhesive is applied between the mount 23 a of the substrate 22 and the thick plate 27 of the pressing member 26. Are bonded and fixed with the end portion 34 (exposed portion) of the same sandwiched therebetween.

Next, an embodiment of an operation for manufacturing the optical fiber array 20 configured as described above will be described. First, the end of the resin coating material 32 covering the optical fiber 30 is removed by a predetermined length. After removal, the end 34 (exposed portion) of the optical fiber 30 exposed to the outside is
2 is provided corresponding to the V groove 25. For this reason, the end 34 of the optical fiber 30 is engaged with both groove walls which are inclined surfaces forming the V groove 25.

The end 34 of the optical fiber 30 is
An adhesive is applied to the entire surface portion 23 of the substrate 22 (including the mount portion 23a) while being engaged with both side walls of the groove 25. Next, as shown in FIG. 2, the optical fiber 30 is sandwiched between the holding member 26 and the substrate 22. At this time, the thick plate portion 27 of the pressing member 26 presses the end 34 (exposed portion) of the optical fiber 30 toward the V groove 25. When the adhesive cures, the substrate 22, the optical fiber 30, and the holding member 26 are integrally fixed. As the adhesive, for example, an epoxy-based curing agent is used. The order in which the adhesive is applied is not limited to this, and may be other than the order shown in the present embodiment.

In the optical fiber array 20 integrally bonded and fixed, the end face of the substrate 22, the end face of the holding member 26, and the end 34 of the optical fiber 30 are connected to the optical fiber 30.
Is cut from a direction orthogonal to the fiber axis of the above, and each cut end face is polished. Polishing of the end face of the optical fiber array 20 generally includes three steps of roughing, intermediate polishing, and mirror polishing.

In such an optical fiber array 20, the upper bottom surface portion 23c of the convex portion 23b of the mount portion 23a of the substrate 22 facing the thick plate portion 27 of the pressing member 26 via the adhesive increases the adhesive force. While there is a demand to ensure a sufficiently wide width, there is inevitably a limitation in increasing the width of the upper bottom surface 23c of the projection 23b due to the arrangement of the plurality of optical fibers 30 and the like.

However, under such restrictions, the upper bottom surface 2
Since the surface state of 3c is in the state of rough polishing, the bonding area is substantially sufficiently large. Then, even when the adhesive shrinks after curing, the adhesive is peeled off at the convex portion 23b when the environment resistance test is performed while maintaining the adhesive strength at the convex portion 23b sufficient. And the optical fiber 30 is held between the substrate 22 and the holding member 26 with a sufficient force, and the positional accuracy of the optical fiber 30 can be kept high.

The upper bottom surface 2 of the projection 23b of the substrate 22
Since the surface of 3c is maintained in a rough-polished state without V-groove processing, for example, the surface state of the material of the substrate 22 which has been coarsely polished is not processed as it is, and the mounting portion 2
In the case of 3a, when the surface state of the convex portion 23b can be used, the step of surface processing of the convex portion 23b can be omitted, and as a result, the manufacturing cost can be reduced.

In the above-described embodiment, the surface 23 of the substrate 22 is ground with a polishing paper or a polishing machine. However, other than that, the surface may be ground with a dicing machine, or may be chemically etched (for glass). (Etching with hydrofluoric acid).

[0027]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, a plurality of optical fibers are fitted and arranged in a plurality of V-grooves arranged in parallel on a substrate, and an adhesive is applied on the substrate and the optical fibers. When the optical fiber is sandwiched between the substrate and the holding member, and when the substrate, the holding member and the optical fiber are integrally bonded and fixed, the holding member faces the holding member via an adhesive.
Since the surface of the convex portion of the substrate is rough, the surface area of the convex portion is relatively large, and even if the adhesive shrinks after curing, the adhesive strength at the convex portion is maintained at a sufficient level. Then, when conducting an environmental resistance test, prevent the adhesive from peeling off at the convex portion, maintain the optical fiber sandwiched between the substrate and the holding member, and maintain the optical fiber with high precision Can be.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, the surface of the substrate is roughly polished, and the convex portion of the substrate is located between adjacent V-grooves in the plurality of V-grooves. Since it is maintained in a rough polished state without being processed in, for example, it is possible to use the surface state of the convex part without processing the surface state of the material of the coarse polished substrate as it is, and to use the surface state of the convex part. For example, the mirror polishing step can be omitted, and the manufacturing cost can be reduced.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, since the surface roughness of the projection of the substrate is 0.5 to 2.0 μm, the roughness is sufficient to increase the surface area (adhesion area) of the projection. And, the surface roughness of 0.5 to 2.0 μm is the surface condition of the material of the roughly polished substrate. If the surface condition of the material is used as it is as the surface of the convex portion, the surface processing of the convex portion,
For example, the number of mirror polishing steps can be omitted.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an exploded perspective view showing an optical fiber array according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing an optical fiber array according to one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a sectional view showing an optical fiber array according to one embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 20 ... Optical fiber array 22 ... Substrate 23 ... Surface part 23a ... Mounting part 23b ... Convex part 23c ... Top bottom part 24 ... V groove array 25 ... V groove 26 ... Holding member 30 ... Optical fiber 32 ... Coating material 34 ... End part Exposed part

Claims (3)

[Claims] An optical fiber array in which a plurality of optical fibers are fitted and arranged in a plurality of V-grooves arranged in parallel on a substrate, and the optical fibers are bonded and fixed in a state where the optical fibers are sandwiched between the substrate and a pressing member. In the above, the surface portion of the substrate has a concave portion formed by the plurality of V-grooves and a convex portion located between adjacent V-grooves in the plurality of V-grooves. The adhesive is applied to a surface portion including a concave portion and a convex portion of the substrate and an optical fiber. An optical fiber array, wherein the optical fiber array is bonded and fixed in a state sandwiched by the substrate. 2. An optical fiber array in which a plurality of optical fibers are respectively fitted and arranged in a plurality of V-grooves juxtaposed on a substrate, and bonded and fixed in a state where the optical fibers are sandwiched between the substrate and a pressing member. In the above, the surface of the substrate is roughly polished, and the surface of the substrate is V-grooved to form the plurality of V-grooves, while the plurality of V-grooves are located between adjacent V-grooves. An optical fiber array, wherein the portion is unprocessed and the surface of the convex portion is maintained in the rough polished state. 3. The surface roughness of the projection of the substrate is 0.5.
3. The optical fiber array according to claim 1, wherein the optical fiber array has a thickness of from 2.0 μm to 2.0 μm. 4.