Encapsulation of optoelectronic components
First Claim
1. A method for the manufacture of an optocomponent, comprising the steps of:
- producing a plate of an inorganic material,producing at least portions of waveguides at a surface of the plate,mounting an optoelectronic component on said surface of the plate for an optical coupling to the waveguides and for connection to electrical terminals,coating at least a portion of the surface of the plate including at least a portion of a free surface of the waveguide portions and a free surface of the optoelectronic component with a first plastics material,applying on top of at least an area of the plate covered with the first plastics material a layer of a second plastics materialwherein the second plastics material has a high mechanical resistance to form a protection of the optoelectronic component and the waveguides andthe first plastics material has a high elasticity to relieve mechanical stresses resulting from temperature changes.
2 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
An encapsulated optocomponent (1) comprises a single-crystal silicon wafer (3) and waveguides (9) located thereon, which at least partly are manufactured by means of process methods taken from the methods for manufacturing electronic integrated circuits. The waveguides (9) extend from an edge of the optoelectronic component (1) to an optoelectronic, active or passive component (11) attached to the surface of the silicon wafer (3). Over the region for connecting the waveguides (9) to the optoelectronic component (11) a transparent plastics material is molded (17), for instance an elastomer, having a refractive index adjusted to improve the optical coupling between the waveguides (9) and the optoelectronic component (11). The molding (17) covers advantageously all of said component (11) to also reduce thermal stresses between it and an exterior, protective layer (19) of a curable plastics material. The molded layer (17) can also cover the whole area of the waveguides (9) to form an upper cladding thereof. Guide grooves (5) are arranged in the silicon wafer (3) for positioning guide pins (7), utilized in the connection of the optocomponent (1) to another optocomponent having guides for guide pins and waveguides configured in the same way.
77 Citations
18 Claims
-
1. A method for the manufacture of an optocomponent, comprising the steps of:
-
producing a plate of an inorganic material, producing at least portions of waveguides at a surface of the plate, mounting an optoelectronic component on said surface of the plate for an optical coupling to the waveguides and for connection to electrical terminals, coating at least a portion of the surface of the plate including at least a portion of a free surface of the waveguide portions and a free surface of the optoelectronic component with a first plastics material, applying on top of at least an area of the plate covered with the first plastics material a layer of a second plastics material wherein the second plastics material has a high mechanical resistance to form a protection of the optoelectronic component and the waveguides and the first plastics material has a high elasticity to relieve mechanical stresses resulting from temperature changes. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3)
-
-
4. A method for the manufacture of an optocomponent, comprising the steps of:
-
producing a plate of an inorganic material, producing at least one cladding and at least one core associated said cladding at a surface of the plate for obtaining at least one waveguide, and mounting an optoelectronic component on said surface of the plate for optical coupling to the waveguides and for connection to electrical terminals, wherein a lower part of said at least one cladding and said at least one core are first produced by process technological methods at a top of a surface of the plate, an upper portion of the at least one cladding is produced by covering at least a portion of the surface of the plate including at least a portion of a free surface of the at least one lower cladding and at least a portion of a free surface of the at least one core with a plastics material, and wherein at least said surface of the plate including free surfaces of the cladding and the plastics material is coated with an additional plastics layer. - View Dependent Claims (5, 6, 7)
-
-
8. A method for the manufacture of an optocomponent comprising an optical connector means, comprising the steps of:
-
producing a plate of an inorganic material, producing at least one waveguide at a surface of the plate, mounting an optoelectronic component on the surface of the plate for an optical coupling to the waveguides, producing accurately aligned guide grooves in the surface of the plate, coating at least a connection region between the component and at least one waveguide by molding thereon a transparent material having a selected refractive index to enhance the optical coupling between the component and the at least one waveguide, and molding on top of at least an area of the plate where the transparent material is coated a protective plastics layer. - View Dependent Claims (9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14)
-
-
15. An encapsulated optocomponent, comprising:
-
a substrate of an inorganic material, an optoelectronic component mounted to a surface of the substrate optical coupling between the waveguides and for connection to electrical terminals, waveguides at least partly formed in and/or on the surface of the substrate, wherein the optoelectric component is optically coupled to the waveguides, a first plastics layer of an elastomer material covering at least a portion of the surface of the substrate including at least a portion of a free surface of the waveguides and a free surface of the optoelectronic component and a second plastics layer covering at least all of the first plastics layer on the surface of the substrate, wherein the material of the second plastics material has a high mechanical resistance to form a protection of the optoelectronic component and the waveguides and the material of the first plastics material is soft and has a high elasticity to relieve mechanical stresses resulting from temperature changes.
-
-
16. A method for the manufacture of an optocomponent, comprising the steps of:
-
producing a plate of an inorganic material, producing at least one cladding and at least one core associated said cladding at a surface of the plate for obtaining at least one waveguide, and mounting an optoelectronic component on said surface of the plate for optical coupling to the waveguides and for connection to electrical terminals, wherein a lower part of said at least one cladding and said at least one core are first produced by process technological methods at a top of a surface of the plate, wherein an upper portion of the at least one cladding is produced by covering at least a portion of the surface of the plate including at least a portion of a free surface of the at least one lower cladding and at least a portion of a free surface of the at least one core with a plastics material, wherein at least a connection region between the component and at least one waveguide is coated with a plastics material, and wherein the plastics material is a transparent material having a refractive index for enhancing the optical coupling between the component and the at least one waveguide. - View Dependent Claims (17, 18)
-
Specification