JPH04338703A - Manufacture of multi-fiber optical connector - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To offer the manufacture of the multi-fiber optical connector which can maintain the precision of the two-dimensional positioning of fixation grooves for optical fibers. CONSTITUTION:After the fixation grooves 3 for the optical fibers are machined on the top surface of a substrate P for an optical connector element to form the optical connector element 2, a process for fixing another substrate P for the optical connector element on the top surface of said optical connector element 2a is repeated plural times on the working table 4 of the same machining device to array fixation grooves for optical fibers in two dimensions.

Description

[Detailed description of the invention]

0001

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a method of manufacturing a multi-fiber optical connector having a plurality of optical fiber fixing grooves.

0002

2. Description of the Related Art Multi-core optical connectors are required to have the ability to accurately connect a plurality of optical fibers at the same time, so the positioning accuracy of each optical fiber becomes a problem. Therefore, a V-groove for the optical fiber is formed on the top surface of the connector element, and the connecting end of the optical fiber is supported in the V-groove at two points in the cross-sectional direction, thereby maintaining the positioning accuracy of the optical fiber. V
Grooves can be precisely machined in the direction in which the optical fibers are arranged, that is, in one dimension, with the desired precision, and conventionally, multi-core optical connectors in which this type of optical fibers are arranged in one dimension have been put into practical use. .

0003

However, in recent years, it has become desirable to attach a large number of optical fibers using multi-core optical connectors, and a limit to one-dimensional arrangement is coming to an end. In such a case, it is conceivable to increase the density by arranging optical fibers two-dimensionally, but it is extremely difficult to maintain positioning accuracy in two-dimensional directions, and this has not yet been put to practical use.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide a method for manufacturing a multi-fiber optical connector that makes it possible to maintain two-dimensional positioning accuracy of optical fiber fixing grooves.

[0005]

[Means for solving the problem] In order to achieve the above purpose,
After forming an optical connector element by forming a plurality of optical fiber fixing grooves on the upper surface of a substrate for an optical connector element, the process of fixing another substrate for an optical connector element on the upper surface of the optical connector element is performed in the same manner. The method is characterized in that the optical fiber fixing grooves are two-dimensionally arranged by repeating the process multiple times on the work table of the processing machine.

[0006]

[Operation] After forming a groove on a substrate for an optical connector element to form an optical connector element, a substrate for another optical connector element is fixed to this, and then a groove is cut on the substrate for another optical connector element. to form an optical connector element. By repeating this process, optical connector elements each having an optical fiber fixing groove formed therein are stacked. In this case, since the work is done on the work table of the same processing machine, based on the groove machining on the substrate for the first optical connector element, the second substrate for the optical connector element can be fabricated in a similar manner. The groove machining can be further performed in the third, fourth, and so on.

[0007]

Embodiment A method for manufacturing an optical connector, which is an embodiment of the present invention, will be described below with reference to FIG.

As shown in the figure, this manufacturing method uses a chip cut out from a silicon wafer as an optical connector element substrate P, and has five layers of connector elements 2 each having an optical fiber fixing groove 3 formed therein. An optical connector 1 is manufactured. First, as shown in FIG. 1(a), the first optical connector element substrate Pa is set on the work table 4 of a processing machine that grinds the optical fiber fixing groove 3, that is, a grinding machine (not shown). . A desired number of optical fiber fixing grooves 3a are ground on the set first optical connector element substrate Pa using the grinding blade 5 of a grinding machine to form the first optical connector element 2a.

Next, as shown in FIG. 1(b), a second optical connector element substrate Pb is adhesively fixed onto the first optical connector element 2a. In this case, the second optical connector element substrate P
The second optical connector element 2b formed from the second optical connector element 2b has an optical fiber fixing groove 3b formed later, and the first
It also functions as a holding member for an optical fiber (not shown) guided to the optical fiber fixing groove 3a of the optical connector element 2a.

When the adhesive fixation of the second optical connector element substrate Pb is completed, the first optical connector element substrate Pa
The optical fiber fixing groove 3b of the second optical connector element substrate Pb is ground in a similar manner to the grinding of the optical fiber fixing groove 3a in FIG.
(c)). That is, the grinding performed on the first optical connector element substrate Pa is performed on the second optical connector element substrate Pb in exactly the same manner at the absolute position stored in the grinding machine.

After the second optical connector element 2b is formed, the third optical connector element substrate Pc is adhesively fixed onto the second optical connector element 2b, and then the optical fiber fixing groove 3c is ground. are carried out in the same manner as above to form the third optical connector element 2c. In this case, in addition to grinding the optical fiber fixing groove 3c, the positioning V groove 6,
6 grinding is also performed. This positioning V-groove 6 guides the optical connection when the optical connector 1 is connected to the connector, and is formed at a symmetrical position on both sides of the optical fiber fixing groove 3c (Fig. 1(d) )).

Next, in the same manner as above, the fourth optical connector element substrate Pd is adhesively fixed on the third optical connector element 2c, and the fourth optical fiber fixing groove 3d is ground. A connector element 2d is formed. moreover,
A fifth optical connector element substrate Pe is adhesively fixed onto the fourth optical connector element 2d, and the fifth optical connector element 2e is formed by grinding the optical fiber fixing groove 3e. Finally, the sixth optical connector element substrate Pf is adhesively fixed onto the fifth optical connector element 2e. Note that since the sixth optical connector element substrate Pf is used only as an optical fiber holding member, the optical fiber fixing groove 3 is not ground.

In this way, by stacking and grinding a plurality of optical connector element substrates P on the same grinding machine to form an optical connector element, the optical fiber fixing groove 3 is always completely will be formed at the location. Therefore, positioning accuracy is ensured both horizontally and vertically, that is, in two-dimensional directions, and the optical fiber fixing groove 3 (optical fiber)
enables high-density arrays.

Next, the structure of the optical connector 1 manufactured by the above manufacturing method will be briefly explained based on FIG. 2.

As shown in the figure, the connection side end faces (front end faces) 7 of each optical connector element 2 are formed on the same surface.
In particular, the formation part of the optical fiber fixing groove 3 on the rear end side is the first
The optical connector element 2a is the longest, followed by the second optical connector element 2b, then the third, fourth, and so on. This is because when guiding each optical fiber to the optical fiber fixing groove 3 of each optical connector element 2,
This structure is designed to streamline work. The operator starts working from the bottom layer, ie, the first connector element 2a. A space surrounded from the rear by the optical fiber fixing groove 3a of the first connector element 2a and the lower surface of the second optical connector element 2b by aligning each optical fiber with each optical fiber fixing groove 3a and using this as a guide. Insert the optical fiber into the After the optical fiber is inserted up to the connection side end face 7, the optical fiber is adhesively fixed to the optical fiber fixing groove 3a. This is sequentially connected to the second optical connector element 2b, the third optical connector element, the fourth optical connector element 2b, and so on.
Repeat until step 5. Since the rear end side of the optical connector element 2 is thus stepped, the operation of inserting the optical fiber can be performed smoothly.

[0016]

As described above, according to the present invention, grooves are formed on a substrate for an optical connector element and fixing of a substrate for the next optical connector element is sequentially repeated on the work table of the same processing machine. Since the optical connector elements are stacked, positioning accuracy is ensured in both the horizontal and vertical directions, that is, in the two-dimensional direction, and the optical fiber fixing grooves, and thus the optical fibers, can be arranged with high density.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a process diagram showing a method for manufacturing an optical connector according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of an example of an optical connector manufactured according to the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols] 1...Optical connector 2...Optical connector element 2a...first optical connector element 2b...Second optical connector element 2c...Third optical connector element 2d...Fourth optical connector element 2e...Fifth optical connector element 2f...Sixth optical connector element 3...Optical fiber fixing groove 4...Work table Pa...first optical connector element substrate Pb...second optical connector element substrate Pc...Third optical connector element substrate Pd...Fourth optical connector element substrate Pe...Fifth optical connector element substrate Pf...Sixth optical connector element substrate

Claims (1)

[Claims] Claim 1: After forming an optical connector element by forming a plurality of fixing grooves for optical fibers on the upper surface of a substrate for an optical connector element, a substrate for another optical connector element is fixed on the upper surface of the optical connector element. A method for manufacturing a multi-fiber optical connector, characterized in that optical fiber fixing grooves are two-dimensionally arranged by repeating the process a plurality of times on a work table of the same processing machine.