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Optical Fiber Alignment Technology Promises to Lower Cost, Increase Production Volume
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| Boeing IPMA MEMS technology aligns optical fiber inside sealed packaging RealMedia or AVI file |
Despite recent setbacks in the telecommunications industry, virtually everyone agrees that the data and telecommunication infrastructure is moving toward all-optical networks. As the public demand skyrockets for higher data rates, greater bandwidth, and increased access to the Internet, it becomes increasingly clear that the solution is fiberoptics.
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However, a major bump in the road to the all-optical network is the continued high cost of optical components. This is driven, in large part, by the high cost of production -- as all those tiny fibers in all those optical devices need to be precisely aligned with light sources to work properly. That means manufacturing processes are slow and volumes are low, which brings us to our featured technology -- an In-Package MEMS (micro-electro-mechanical-systems) Aligner from Boeing, developed to facilitate the precise, active alignment and lockdown of single-mode fibers within an electro-optical device such as a laser pump, optical switch, router, or other device.
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| John Haake, IPMA inventor Click to hear his comments: RealMedia or AVI file |
Here´s How It Works:
After optical fibers are fed into the optical device package, they are attached to the In-Package MEMS Aligner (IPMA). The IPMA is a consumable, low-cost, active device fabricated using standard MEMS semiconductor fabrication technology which enables hundreds of MEMS aligners to be produced per silicon wafer.
Tiny, electrically-activated actuators are heated and cooled to expand and contract inside the hermetically sealed MEMS package, pushing and pulling the optical fibers into alignment with the optical device along the X,Y, and Z planes. Once alignment is achieved, the fiber is secured in place with a proprietary solder preform (or an alternative bonding method, such as laser welding or adhesive bonding) and the actuators are turned off. Should the fiber ever come out of alignment, the actuators can be reactivated, the solder reflowed, and the fibers repositioned -- all without opening the sealed package -- making easy, low-cost field repairs possible.
| Integral springs push chip into reference corner RealMedia or AVI file | Three thermal actuators assure positioning RealMedia or AVI file | X-axis adjustment RealMedia or AVI file |
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| Y-axis adjustment RealMedia or AVI file | Z-axis adjustment (focus) RealMedia or AVI file | Three actuators work together to achieve optimum focus RealMedia or AVI file |
The labor-intensive alignment and packaging step commonly used today is expensive, representing 40-50% of the product cost according to some estimates. The automated MEMS process enables manufacturers to eliminate this costly bottleneck in the current process. Instead of having all packages go through a single choke point, the IPMA enables a massively parallel alignment and bonding process, requiring less labor, testing, and inspection per unit output while lowering overhead by reducing capital equipment and clean room requirements. Because of the dramatic decrease in assembly costs and the equally dramatic increase in volume manufacturing, Boeing´s IPMA technology could enable a wealth of new photonic technology previously out of commercial reach because of costs.
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| The process of assembling and aligning inside the IPMA package RealMedia or AVI file |
A related, licensable technology called the Smart In-Micro Package Aligner (SIMPAL) has been developed for optical backplane interconnect applications. It includes built-in optical detectors and control circuitry that make it particularly well-suited for optical network peripheral devices and backplanes requiring precisely aligned connections.
The IPMA alignment technology has been successfully prototyped and tested by Boeing´s Phantom Works, and the fiberoptic lockdown technology is being used in the assembly of fiber components for avionics LAN systems onboard Boeing aircraft. This technology is ideal for optoelectronic device OEMs, connector manufacturers, and other high-volume optical component operations. It is available for further development and commercialization as a fully-integrated packaging solution.
