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Next-generation Optoelectronics Manufacturing
December 31, 1969 |Estimated reading time: 2 minutes
By Randy Heyler
The manifold benefits of this trend include leveraging literally millions of hours of machine development and production service, as well as design tools and reliability data that potentially can be applied to many applications in optoelectronics. Along with this opportunity comes significant challenges across the board, which are inhibiting the inevitable adoption of many surface mount assembly strategies for optoelectronics.
These challenges or barriers can be categorized in several different dimensions, including device design, equipment capability, industry immaturity and market constraints.
Device Design
Most current-generation optoelectronics packages are not designed to take advantage of SMT and semiconductor processes because of limited access from above, or requirements for horizontal fiber insertion through package feed-throughs. Newer designs are incorporating pre-assembled surface mountable optical components and self-registering
features to enable surface mount equipment assembly. Additionally, design tools currently are limited to modeling optical performance, but not assisting in assembly or test design. Finally, many assemblies require assembly tolerances of less than 0.5μm, whereas most SMT assembly equipment is designed for tolerances in the 5 to 50 μm realm, one to two orders of magnitude too high.
Equipment Performance
For more demanding optoelectronics assemblies, equipment must be capable of positioning to 0.1 μm and keeping bond-related shifts to less than 1 μm. Extensive machine vision use for component presence, orientation, in-situ inspection and pre-alignment functions also is common. Some high-end die-bonding machines can achieve these process requirements, but only with eutectic solder bonding and planar form factors. The ability to assemble odd-form factors, hold tolerances in multiple degrees of freedom and incorporate other bonding methods also will be required.
Fortunately, pick-and-place and bonding speed is not nearly as critical because volumes are much lower.
Specialized equipment has been developed, trading off assembly speed for much higher assembly precision. This equipment often is semiautomated because many of the sub-components are not designed for automated material handling and processes are not refined enough to achieve reasonable yields without an operator in attendance.
Material Handling
Optoelectronics devices incorporate a variety of components that are difficult to handle. The devices themselves (e.g., GaAs, LiNBO3, InP) often are fragile and brittle, and the micro-optics small and orientation-sensitive. The fiber itself, breakable at the tip, acts like a spring and generally is highly statically charged, attracting contamination. Additionally, a glass or metal ferrule often is assembled onto the fiber's end to give it additional material for the attachment process.
Lack of Standards
Few, if any, standards currently exist to define package housing sizes, pin-outs, assembly processes, test protocols or equipment. Most first-generation devices were ramped into manufacture directly from the laboratory, without the benefit of undergoing design-for-manufacturability reviews, thereby limiting the product's ability to be automated. Fortunately, industry is stepping up efforts in the standards area under the auspices of the Photonics Manufacturers' Association, a newly formed council with IPC - Association Connecting Electronics Industries. An "umbrella" standard, IPC-STD-0040, currently is being developed that will yield a roadmap for device manufacturing standards, and numerous efforts are spinning out of the National Electronics Manufacturing Initiative (NEMI) optoelectronics roadmap that also is in progress.
Randy Heyler, vice president of business development, Newport Corp., Fiber Optics and Photonics Div., may be contacted at 1821 E. Dyer Rd., Santa Ana, CA 92705; (949) 862-3465; E-mail: rheyler@newport.com.