JPS6151110A - Jig for treating end surface of optical fiber - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To prevent a glass substrate from breaking by forming a protection film of a material having high hardness on the surface of the glass substrate against which the end surface of an optical fiber is pressed. CONSTITUTION:The jig for treating the end surface of the optical fiber consists of a heating part 1, circuit part 2, and power supply part 3, and the protection film 9 made of the material with high hardness such as aluminum oxide, etc., is formed on the surface of the glass substrate 6 of the heating part 1. When the end surface is treated, the coating 11 of the end part of the optical fiber 10 mounted on a metallic presser 13 is removed and the end part is pressed and fixed to the glass substrate 6. Then a current is supplied to the heater part 4 to finish the end surface into a specular surface. Thus, the protection film 9 is formed on the substrate 6, so the glass substrate 6 is prevented from breaking owing to a shock in the press contacting of the metallic presser 13, a shock in transportation, etc.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION (Technical Field) The present invention relates to a jig for processing the end face of an optical fiber using a plastic fiber.

[Background technology]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, optical transmission technology using glass fibers has made remarkable progress in optical communication systems and the like. In addition to the above-mentioned glass fibers, plastic fibers are also available as optical fibers that serve as light transmission media, but their practical use has lagged behind that of glass fibers. Other components for optical communication systems that use plastic fiber as a transmission medium include:
Optical connectors, optical branchers, optical demultiplexers/combiners, optical switches, optical modules (optical-electrical/electrical-optical converters), etc. are required for connection.

When connecting plastic fibers, it is necessary to treat the end faces of the plastic fibers. Conventionally, the end faces of the plastic fibers were polished with a file and then subjected to puff polishing before being connected.
Since it is difficult to uniformly process the end face, the loss of the optical signal was large because there were many variations.

Furthermore, in the connection of plastic fibers, a method of heat-sealing the end faces of the plastic fibers together is often used, but conventional heaters for heat-sealing are large, making them inconvenient to carry.

In these methods, in order to connect a pre-wired plastic fiber to another plastic fiber, the end of the pre-wired plastic fiber must be left extra long or the pre-wired plastic fiber must be removed and polished. Otherwise, they had to be connected by heat fusion, which required a lot of work.

Therefore, the inventors have developed an optical fiber end face processing jig that is convenient to carry and can easily and quickly mirror finish the end face of an optical fiber. This optical fiber end face treatment jig is
A glass substrate is provided to be crimped onto the end surface of the optical fiber, and a heater section and electrode for heating the glass substrate are bonded to the back surface of the glass substrate, and the end surface of the optical fiber is attached to the glass substrate with the optical fiber inserted through the holding fitting. By crimping and heating the glass substrate with a heater section, the end face of the optical fiber can be melted and a mirror-finished end face of the optical fiber can be obtained.

However, the glass substrate may be damaged or damaged due to the impact of the presser metal used when crimping the end face of the optical fiber, the impact during transportation, and the ring that falls when the glass substrate is removed to replace the heater. When attaching and detaching the optical fiber end face processing jig from the main body of the optical fiber end face treatment jig, the heater section and electrodes bonded to the glass substrate may be damaged. Moreover, this optical fiber end face treatment jig is used in various environments, and as a result, the heater section and electrodes may become oxidized or sulfided. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide an optical fiber end face treatment jig that is less likely to cause damage to the glass substrate and less likely to cause damage to the heater portion and electrodes, or to deterioration such as oxidation or sulfidation.

[Disclosure of the invention]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides an optical fiber end face processing jig which is equipped with a glass substrate to be crimped onto the end face of an optical fiber, and has a heater part and an electrode for heating the glass substrate bonded to the back surface of the glass substrate. The gist of the present invention is an optical fiber end face processing jig characterized in that a protective film is formed on at least one of the surface of a glass substrate and the surfaces of a heater section and an electrode. This will be explained in detail below based on the drawings showing examples.

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the optical fiber end face processing jig (hereinafter referred to as the "jig") consists of a heating section 1, a circuit section 2, and a power supply section 3. A glass substrate 6 is held in the heating section 1 by a frame 7. An electrode 5.5 is provided on the back surface of the glass substrate 6, and a heater section 4 is provided on the back surface of the glass substrate 6 at a position corresponding to the position where the end surface of the optical fiber is crimped on the front surface of the glass substrate 6. is installed. The electrodes 5. are provided on both sides of the heater section 4.
5 are overlapped. The electrodes 5.5 are in contact with terminals 8, 8 wired to the power supply section 3, and when the heater section 4 is supplied with current from the power supply section 3, the heater section generates heat. A protective film 9 made of a material with high hardness is formed on the surface.
The surface is mirror-like.

As shown in FIG. 3, the optical fiber 10 to be subjected to end face treatment is made up of a strand 12 consisting of a core and a brad. A presser metal fitting 13 is attached to the tip of the optical fiber 10.
is installed.

Next, an optical fiber end face treatment process using the jig according to the present invention will be explained. The coating 11 is removed from the end face of the optical fiber 10 to which the presser fitting 13 is attached, leaving the strands 12 exposed. Then, as shown in Figure 3, the unnecessary strands are cut off, leaving an appropriate length. The end face of this optical fiber 10 is connected to the glass base Fi of the heater part l of the jig.
, 6 and fix it by crimping it to the front part.゛When a current is applied to the heater section 4, the heater section 4 is disposed only at the position on the rear surface of the glass substrate 6 corresponding to the position where the end surface of the optical fiber on the front surface of the glass substrate 6 is crimped. Therefore, only the portion of the glass substrate necessary for processing the end face of the optical fiber is heated. In this way, the end face of the optical fiber 11 press-bonded to the glass substrate 6 is melted. Thereafter, the power supply to the heater section 4 is stopped and the heater section 4 is cooled down. The end face of the optical fiber 11 thus completed has a mirror surface as shown in FIG.

Unless the protective film 9 is formed on the surface of the glass substrate 6 as in this example, there will be no impact due to the impact during crimping of the presser used in the optical fiber end face treatment process, impact during transportation, or when replacing the heater unit. When the glass substrate is removed, microcracks are generated on the surface of the glass substrate due to dropping, etc., and the mechanical strength of that portion is reduced. If further impact is applied to this, the glass substrate will be damaged.

On the other hand, when the protective film 9 is formed, the mechanical strength of the surface of the glass substrate can be improved, so the occurrence of microcracks can be drastically reduced, and damage to the glass substrate can be prevented.

(Example 1) ) Glass substrate (thickness 0.8 mm, diameter 2
9mm, product name: Hoya NA40. Is Hoya Glass Company M) enough? 'After A cleaning, RF reactive sputtering was performed under the following conditions to form a titanium nitride film on the surface of the glass substrate.

Substrate temperature is 300℃, ultimate vacuum is I x 10'4T
orr, the introduced gases were nitrogen gas at a pressure of 3 x 10' Torr and a mixed gas of nitrogen and argon at a pressure of 5 x 10' Torr, the voltage was 300 V, and the current was LA.

With a sputtering time of 6 minutes, a golden mirror film with a film thickness of about 3000 was obtained.

Next, a heater portion and electrodes were formed by screen printing on the surface opposite to the surface on which the titanium nitride film was formed.

After attaching and detaching the optical fiber clamp 1000 times, observation under a microscope revealed that almost no cracks or scratches were observed.

FIGS. 5 and 6 show another embodiment of the present invention, in which a protective film 14 is formed on the surfaces of the heater section and electrodes instead of on the surface of the glass substrate. The rest of the structure is exactly the same as that of the previous embodiment. As shown in FIGS. 5 and 6, the surfaces of the heater section 4 and the electrode 5.5, except for the contact section 15 with the terminal 8, have high hardness and are chemically and thermally stable. It is covered with a protective film 14 made of an insulating material. This protective film 14
This prevents damage to the heater section 4 and electrodes 5.5 when attaching and detaching the glass substrate 6 to and from this jig body, and prevents damage to the heater section and electrodes, especially the parts that become hot. (Example 2) Glass substrate (thickness: 0.8 m+n, diameter: 29 mm, product name: Hoya NA40. Hoya Glass Co., Ltd.! Nickel chromium alloy in the heater part) After forming electrodes (chromium) by sputtering, a protective film of aluminum oxide was formed by electron beam evaporation into the shape shown in FIGS. 5 and 6. The substrate temperature was 200° C., and the I film thickness was 5000.

As a result, we were able to obtain a protective film that would not be scratched by materials as hard as a human fingernail. After processing the end face of the optical fiber 5000 times, we checked the resistance value of the heater part, and found that
The change was within 3% of the value before the end face treatment. Moreover, no discoloration of the electrodes was observed and oxidation was prevented.

Since the softening point of plastic is around 100°C, the heater part of the jig according to this invention can heat the glass substrate where the end face of the optical fiber is crimped to around 140°C, and up to around 300°C. A material that is stable against heat is desirable. As the heater part material, I To (In
In addition to dium tin oxide), metals such as nickel chromium alloys, nitrides such as tantalum nitride, oxides such as ruthenium oxide, etc. are preferably used. It is desirable that the glass substrate has a softening point of 700° C. or higher and strong high-temperature strength. Desirably, the electrode has high economic stability and low sheet resistance and contact resistance. Necessary mechanisms such as a temperature compensation mechanism, a time control mechanism, a display mechanism, and a current control mechanism may be incorporated into the circuit portion of the jig. In consideration of portability, it is desirable to use a rechargeable battery in the power supply part of the jig.

In this invention, the material for the protective film formed on the surface of the glass substrate, the heater section, and the electrode is preferably one that has high hardness and is thermally stable. in particular,
Oxides such as aluminum oxide and silicon dioxide, nitrides such as silicon nitride, titanium nitride and hafnium nitride, carbides such as titanium carbide and tungsten carbide, borides, titanium cyanide, phosphosilicate glass, polyimide organic films, etc. Examples include mixtures of these. In particular, it is preferable that the protective film for the heater part and the electrodes be chemically stable and have insulating properties in addition to the above-mentioned properties. oxides, nitrides such as silicon nitride, phosphosilicate glass, polyimide-based organic materials, etc. are preferable.

〔Effect of the invention〕

The optical fiber end face processing jig according to the present invention has a protective film formed on the glass substrate and the heater section, so it prevents the glass substrate from being broken and prevents damage to the heater section and electrodes, as well as deterioration such as oxidation and sulfurization. can be prevented.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a partial cross-sectional view of an embodiment of the optical fiber end face treatment jig according to the present invention, and FIG.
3 is a sectional view of the optical fiber with the holding fitting attached, FIG. 4 is a sectional view of the optical fiber after end face treatment, and FIG. 5 is a sectional view of the optical fiber end face treatment according to the present invention. A partial cross-sectional view of another embodiment of the tool, FIG.
It is a sectional view of the BB part of a figure. 1... Heating section 2... Circuit section 3... Power supply section 4
...Heater part 5...Electrode 6...Glass substrate
9,14...Protective film agent Patent attorney Takehiko Matsumoto" Figure 3 Figure 4 Circle Kyoto Mutsu City Masho (spontaneous) November 2, 1980 Patent Application No. 173958 2 , Title of the invention: Optical fiber end face processing jig 3, Relationship with the person making the amendment Patent applicant Location: 1048 Kadoma, Kadoma City, Osaka Name (583) Representative of Matsushita Electric Works Co., Ltd. (Masui Kobayashi) Iku 4, No agent 6, Specification subject to amendment 7, Contents of amendment (11 Specification, page 8, line 2 to line 5 of the same page, "Substrate temperature...current is IA," , amended as follows: 1. The substrate temperature is 300°C, the sputtering equipment is depressurized in advance to below I x 10' Torr, and nitrogen gas is supplied until the pressure inside the equipment reaches I x 10' Torr. Introduce argon gas until the pressure inside the device is 4×
The temperature was introduced until the pressure reached 10°' Torr. Thereafter, nitrogen gas and argon gas were continued to be introduced at this ratio, and finally sputtering was performed at a vacuum degree of 3×10° 2 Torr. At that time, the voltage was 1.8 KV and the current was 180 m.
It was A.

Claims (2)

[Claims] (1) An optical fiber end face processing jig comprising a glass substrate to be crimped onto the end face of an optical fiber, and a heater part and an electrode for heating the glass substrate bonded to the back surface of the glass substrate, the jig comprising a glass substrate surface and a heater part. and an optical fiber end face processing jig, characterized in that a protective film is formed on at least one of the surfaces of the electrode. (2) The optical fiber end face processing jig according to claim 1, wherein the protective film is formed of an insulating material at least in the heater portion.