Title :
Automated fiber pigtailing technology
Author :
Strand, O.T. ; Lowry, M.E. ; Lu, S.Y. ; Nelson, D.C. ; Nikkel, D.J. ; Pocha, M.D. ; Young, K.D.
Author_Institution :
Lawrence Livermore Nat. Lab., CA, USA
Abstract :
The high cost of optoelectronic (OE) devices is due mainly to the labor-intensive packaging process. Manually pigtailing such devices as single-mode laser diodes and modulators is very time consuming with poor quality control. The Photonics Program and the Engineering Research Division at LLNL are addressing several issues associated with automatically packaging OE devices. A fully automated system must include high-precision fiber alignment, fiber attachment techniques, in-situ quality control, and parts handling and feeding. This paper will present on-going work at LLNL in the areas of automated fiber alignment and fiber attachment. For the fiber alignment, we are building an automated fiber pigtailing machine (AFPM) which combines computer vision and object recognition algorithms with active feedback to perform sub-micron alignments of single-mode fibers to modulators and laser diodes. We expect to perform sub-micron alignments in less than five minutes with this technology. For fiber attachment, we are building various geometries of silicon microbenches which include onboard heaters to solder metal-coated fibers and other components in place; these designs are completely compatible with an automated process of OE packaging
Keywords :
computer vision; feedback; integrated optoelectronics; microassembling; object recognition; optical fibre fabrication; packaging; quality control; semiconductor lasers; Si; active feedback; automated fiber pigtailing technology; computer vision; fiber alignment; fiber attachment; in-situ quality control; object recognition algorithms; onboard heaters; optoelectronic devicepackaging; packaging process; parts feeding; parts handling; pigtailing machine; silicon microbenches; solder reflow; submicron alignments; Buildings; Computer vision; Costs; Diode lasers; Laser feedback; Object recognition; Optical fiber devices; Packaging; Photonics; Quality control;
Conference_Titel :
Electronic Components and Technology Conference, 1994. Proceedings., 44th
Conference_Location :
Washington, DC
Print_ISBN :
0-7803-0914-6
DOI :
10.1109/ECTC.1994.367506