A Parallel Optical Fiber Transceiver Module

Abstract

This invention discloses a parallel optical fiber transceiver module, comprising a laser array, a photodetector array, a driving circuit board and a two-dimensional optical fiber array; the laser array and the photodetector array are mounted in two rows on the driving circuit board, and aligned and coupled with two rows of optical fibers in the fiber array respectively, and glue is used for fixing; the two-dimensional optical fiber array is fabricated on a positioning substrate with both sides etched; the invention has the following beneficial effects: through the double-sided exposure technology in the microelectronic process, a mask pattern is made on both sides of a piece of quartz glass, and then a high-precision optical fiber positioning slot array is etched through the chemical etching process. The double-exposure photoetching machine in the microelectronic process can ensure that the mask pattern on the same side has a high positioning accuracy, thus meeting the technical requirements of the parallel optical fiber transceiver module.

Claims

1. A parallel optical fiber transceiver module used in a parallel optical fiber transmission system, comprising a laser array, a photodetector array, a driving circuit board and a two-dimensional optical fiber array, characterized in that the laser array and the photodetector array are mounted in two rows on the driving circuit board, and aligned and coupled with two rows of optical fibers in the fiber array respectively, and glue is used for fixing.

2. A parallel optical fiber transceiver module according to claim 1, characterized in that the two-dimensional optical fiber array is fabricated on basis of a positioning substrate with both sides being etched; the positioning substrate is made of a piece of quartz glass through a double-sided exposure technology in microelectronic process wherein a mask pattern is made on both sides of the quartz glass, and then a high-precision optical fiber positioning slot array is etched through a chemical etching process.

3. A parallel optical fiber transceiver module according to claim 1, characterized in that spacing, X, between optical fibers in a same row of the two-dimensional optical fiber array has an accuracy equal or less than 0.5 micron.

4. A parallel optical fiber transceiver module according to claim 1, characterized in that vertical relative spacing, Y, between optical fibers in two different rows of the two-dimensional optical fiber array has an accuracy up to 5 microns; whereas horizontal relative spacing, X.sub.12, between optical fibers in two different rows of the two-dimensional optical fiber array has an accuracy up to 2 microns.

5. A method for applying a parallel optical fiber transceiver module in a parallel optical fiber transmission system, providing a laser array, a photodetector array, a driving circuit board and a two-dimensional optical fiber array, characterized in that the laser array and the photodetector array are mounted in two rows on the driving circuit board, and aligned and coupled with two rows of optical fibers in the fiber array respectively, and glue is used for fixing.

6. A parallel optical fiber transceiver module according to claim 5, characterized in that the two-dimensional optical fiber array is fabricated on basis of a positioning substrate with both sides being etched; the positioning substrate is made of a piece of quartz glass through a double-sided exposure technology in microelectronic process wherein a mask pattern is made on both sides of the quartz glass, and then a high-precision optical fiber positioning slot array is etched through a chemical etching process.

7. A parallel optical fiber transceiver module according to claim 5, characterized in that spacing, X, between optical fibers in a same row of the two-dimensional optical fiber array has an accuracy equal or less than 0.5 micron.

8. A parallel optical fiber transceiver module according to claim 5, characterized in that vertical relative spacing, Y, between optical fibers in two different rows of the two-dimensional optical fiber array has an accuracy up to 5 microns; whereas horizontal relative spacing, X.sub.12, between optical fibers in two different rows of the two-dimensional optical fiber array has an accuracy up to 2 microns.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0013] FIG. 1 shows the structure of the parallel optical fiber transceiver module of this invention;

[0014] FIG. 2 shows the circuit board on which the laser array and the photodetector array are mounted;

[0015] FIG. 3 is a schematic view of the structure of the two-dimensional optical fiber array of this invention;

[0016] FIG. 4 is a schematic view of the structure of the positioning substrate of this invention;

[0017] FIG. 5 gives the parameters describing the optical fiber positioning accuracy.

[0018] In the figures: 1laser array, 2photodetector array, 3driving circuit board, 4two-dimensional optical fiber array, 5positioning substrate, 6positioning slot.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0019] The technical solution of the patent is further described in detail below in combination with the specific embodiments.

[0020] As shown in FIG. 1, the optical fiber transceiver module of this invention comprises a driving circuit board 3 on which a laser array 1 and a photodetector array 2 are mounted, a two-dimensional optical fiber array 4, and the two-dimensional optical fiber array 4 is coupled and aligned with the laser array 1 and the photodetector array 2, and glue is used for fixing.

[0021] The laser array 1 and the photodetector array 2 are mounted in two rows on the driving circuit board 3, as shown in FIG. 2. The two-dimensional optical fiber array 4 is fabricated based on a positioning substrate 5 with both sides etched, whose end face is shown in FIG. 3. The two-dimensional optical fiber array 4 is arranged in two rows, whose spacing correspond respectively to spacing of the laser array 1 and spacing of the photodetector array 2 in FIG. 2.

[0022] The positioning substrate 5 with both sides etched is shown in FIG. 4. Through the double-sided exposure technology in the microelectronic process, a mask pattern is made on both sides of a piece of quartz glass, and then a high-precision optical fiber positioning slot 6 is etched through the chemical etching process. The characteristics of the double-sided exposure technology determine that the mask pattern on the same surface is formed with one exposure, so the pattern has a high positioning accuracy; however, due to the mechanical flipping in the process, the accuracy of the relative position between the mask patterns on the two surfaces is slightly lower. The optical fiber positioning accuracy parameters are shown in FIG. 5. The spacing, X, between the optical fibers in the same row has a high accuracy, with a tolerance generally as small as 0.5 micron or less; the relative spacings, Y and X.sub.12, between two different rows of optical fibers have relatively lower accuracy, generally with tolerances of 5 and 2 microns respectively.

[0023] When the two-dimensional optical fiber array 4 fabricated based on the positioning substrate 5 with both sides etched is used in a parallel optical fiber transceiver module, high-precision alignment between the laser array 1 and one row of optical fibers shall be firstly ensured for high coupling efficiency of optical signal of the emission light path; in the receiving light path, the optical signal is transmitted from the other row of optical fibers to the photodetector array 2. As the optical receiving area of the photodetector array 2 is larger and has greater tolerance for the light path alignment, a higher optical signal coupling efficiency can still be obtained.

[0024] The preferred embodiments of this patent have been described above in detail, but this patent is not limited to the above embodiments.

[0025] Various changes may be made by those of ordinary skill in the art without departing from the scope of this patent.