JP4582325B2 - Optical substrate manufacturing method - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a method for manufacturing an optical substrate having optical wiring.

Various methods for manufacturing an optical substrate have been proposed. Among them, as a method for easily providing the core portion, a manufacturing method has been proposed in which a molding die in which a core pattern portion is formed is used, and a core material is filled into the core pattern portion of the molding die to mold the core portion. (For example, see Patent Documents 1 to 3).
The core portion thus molded is covered with a clad layer to form an optical wiring layer.
After producing an optical substrate having an optical wiring in this way, a method is adopted in which the outer shape of the optical substrate is adjusted to match the outer dimensions by, for example, laser processing and dicing processing.

In this way, once the optical substrate having the optical wiring is created and then the outer shape of the optical substrate is processed, the optical substrate outer shape processing accuracy varies, and if an optical connector is installed on the optical substrate in this state, an optical connection loss occurs. There was a problem to do.
In particular, when an optical connector is installed on a film-like optical substrate, there is a problem in that the optical connection position is shifted and the optical connection loss is increased if the outer shape processing accuracy of the optical substrate varies.

  When the external processing of the optical substrate is performed by laser processing, there is a problem that processing accuracy varies by several tens of microns. In addition to the above-described problems of processing accuracy, there are many problems such as removal of carbides generated during processing, processing time during mass production, processing costs, and the like.

In addition to the laser processing, the dicing processing has a problem that the processing accuracy varies by about several tens of microns, and also has many problems such as moisture absorption by water washing during processing and inability to adapt to complicated processing shapes.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 10-90544 JP-A-10-268152 JP 2001-318257 A

  The present invention has been made in view of the disadvantages of the prior art, and is a manufacturing method in which a core mold is formed by filling a core material into the core pattern portion of the mold using a mold having a core pattern portion formed thereon. An optical substrate manufacturing method capable of forming a core part and forming an outer shape with high positional accuracy is provided.

In order to achieve the above object in the present invention, first, the invention described in claim 1 is a method of manufacturing an optical substrate including at least an under cladding layer, a core pattern portion obtained by curing a core material, and an over cladding layer.
An under clad forming step of applying and forming an under clad between the external pattern portions on a support substrate having an external pattern portion;
A core molding step of filling and molding a core material in the core pattern forming portion of a molding die having a recess corresponding to the convex portion of the core pattern forming portion and the outer shape pattern portion;
The molding die obtained by the core molding step was pressed onto the under cladding layer, and after the under cladding layer was cured, the molding die was peeled from the core material and the under cladding layer, and the core material was cured. A mold peeling process for forming the core pattern part on the under cladding layer,
An over clad layer forming step of forming an over clad layer on the core pattern portion obtained by curing the under clad layer and the core material;
A support substrate peeling step for peeling the support substrate;
It is a manufacturing method of the optical board | substrate characterized by having.

The invention according to claim 2, wherein the mold is a method for producing an optical substrate according to claim 1, characterized in that it comprises a positioning recess can be aligned with the outer shape pattern portion provided on the support substrate is there.

First, there is an effect of improving the processing accuracy of the outer pattern portion with respect to the optical wiring pattern. Thereby, the optical connection performance at the time of optical connector connection or optical substrate mounting is improved.

Second, during the optical substrate manufacturing process, it is possible to simultaneously perform core pattern formation and external pattern formation. As a result, the manufacturing process can be simplified and the manufacturing cost can be reduced.

A method for manufacturing an optical substrate of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG.
In the method of manufacturing an optical substrate according to the present invention, first, an undercladding layer 20 is formed on a support substrate 10 as shown in FIG. 1A, and then the undercladding layer 20 is formed as shown in FIG. The core pattern portion 30 and the outer shape pattern portion 40 are formed by pressing the mold 60 having the core pattern forming portion 60 a and the outer shape pattern forming portion 60 b against the clad layer 20.
As shown in FIG. 1C, after filling and solidifying the core material 35 in the core pattern portion 30, and finally forming an overcladding layer 50 as shown in FIG. A substrate is manufactured.

Here, the support substrate 10 is a support substrate for manufacturing an optical substrate. Any material can be used for the support substrate 10 according to the purpose. Specifically, a silicone substrate, a glass substrate, a ceramic substrate, a metal mold, an organic material mold, a printed wiring board, an organic material base material, or the like can be used, but is not limited thereto.

  Further, the convex shape of the outer shape pattern forming part 60b is formed at an arbitrary position on the support substrate 10. The outer shape pattern forming portion 60b can take an arbitrary shape. Specifically, a circular pin type, a quadrangular prism type, a reflection attenuation type tilted at a minute angle, an optical path conversion structure type tilted at an arbitrary angle, a free structure type, and the like can be used, but are not limited thereto.

  For the under-cladding layer 20, the core layer 35, and the over-cladding layer 50, generally used polymer materials can be used. Specifically, a carbonate resin, an epoxy resin, an acrylic resin, an imide resin, a urethane resin, a silicone resin, an organic material mixed with an inorganic filler, and the like can be used, but the present invention is not limited thereto. However, it is desirable to use an optical material with a controlled refractive index.

Arbitrary organic materials and inorganic materials can be used for the mold 60. Specifically, an acrylic resin, a silicone resin, a silicon wafer, a metal material, a glass material, or the like can be used, but is not limited thereto.
In order to improve the releasability of the under cladding layer 20 from the support substrate 10, a release / release layer can be provided on the surface of the mold 60.

The molding die 60 has irregularities of the core pattern forming part 60a and the outer pattern forming part 60b, and the irregularities opposite to the irregularities of the core pattern forming part 60a and the outer pattern forming part 60b are formed on the under cladding layer 20. be able to.
By using the mold 60 having the both patterns, both patterns can be formed simultaneously with high positional accuracy.

When the core pattern forming portion 60a and the outer pattern forming portion 60b are formed on the mold 60, when forming each pattern on the under cladding layer 20, a convex shape is used. Thereby, each concave pattern is formed in the under clad layer 20.

  When the convex pattern of the outer shape pattern forming part 60a is formed on the support substrate 10, the concave / convex pattern of the outer shape pattern can be used as an alignment reference by forming a similar concave mold on the molding die 60. When the outer shape pattern forming portion is fine and it is difficult to match the unevenness, a pin alignment pattern can be created separately and aligned based on this.

Next, the over clad layer 50 can be formed at any location on the optical wiring pattern.
The overcladding layer 50 can be applied and cured with a solution, and a film-like material can be laminated. Moreover, the optical substrate film divided | segmented into each piece can be easily produced by laminating | stacking film-form material on other than an external shape pattern formation part.

In addition, as shown in FIG. 3, the outer shape pattern forming portion 62b made of a convex portion is provided on the support substrate 12 in advance, instead of providing both the outer shape pattern forming portion and the core pattern forming portion in the mold, and the under cladding. At the same time that the layer 22 is applied and formed, the outer pattern portion 42 may be formed.
By performing the subsequent steps in the same manner as described above, the outer shape pattern portion 42 can be formed with high positional accuracy with respect to the core pattern 32.

Further, as shown in FIG. 4A, the core pattern portion is not filled with the core material, but is filled and molded into the core pattern forming portion 63b of the molding die, and the molding die is pressed against the under cladding layer 23 at the same time. A core pattern portion may be formed on the under cladding layer 23.
By performing the subsequent steps in the same manner as described above, the outer shape pattern portion 42 can be formed with high positional accuracy with respect to the core pattern 32.

Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail according to examples, but the present invention is not limited thereto.
In the following description, the optical wiring of the optical substrate is described as one layer, but it is not always necessary to have one layer. In the following description, the optical wiring is described as multi-mode, but it is not always necessary to be in multi-mode.

<Example 1>
First, as shown in FIG. 2A, an under cladding layer 21 (an ultraviolet curing epoxy waveguide material made by NTT-AT) was applied and formed on a support substrate 11 made of a glass wafer.

  Next, as shown in FIG. 2 (b), a mold 61 made of silicone having a pattern forming portion 61a and an external pattern forming portion 61b is pressed against the under cladding layer 21, and after forming, UV irradiation is performed. The undercladding layer 21 was cured, and the silicone mold 61 was peeled off.

  Next, as shown in FIG. 2C, the core pattern portion 31 and the outer pattern portion 41 of the under cladding layer 21 are formed, and the core material 35 (NTT-AT UV curable epoxy light guide) is formed on the core pattern portion 31. The core material 35 was cured by applying a waveguide material) and irradiating with UV.

  Next, as shown in FIG. 2 (d), an over clad material (Sumitomo 3M epoxy film Super10) is laminated on the core pattern portion 31 and the optical wiring pattern, and heated at 100 ° C. for 1 hour to over clad. Layer 51 was formed.

  Next, as shown in FIG.2 (e), the optical substrate was peeled from the support substrate 11 which consists of glass wafers, and it separated into each piece.

  It was confirmed that the external pattern portion 41 was formed with an accuracy of ± 5 μm with respect to the optical wiring pattern.

<Example 2>
First, as shown in FIG. 3 (a), an underclad layer 22 (NTT-AT UV-curable epoxy optical waveguide material) is applied on a support substrate 12 made of a glass wafer having an external pattern forming portion 62b made of a convex portion. At the same time as forming, the outer pattern portion 42 was formed.

  Next, as shown in FIG. 3B, with the convex portion of the outer shape pattern forming portion 62b as an alignment reference, the core pattern forming portion 62a and the concave portion 62c corresponding to the convex portion of the outer shape pattern forming portion 62b are made of silicone. The mold 62 was pressed against the undercladding layer 22 and irradiated with UV to cure the undercladding layer 22 and peel off the silicone mold 62.

  Next, as shown in FIG. 3C, the core material 35 of the core pattern portion 32 of the under-cladding layer 22 (NTT-AT UV curable epoxy optical waveguide material) is applied, and the core material 35 is applied by UV irradiation. Cured.

  Next, as shown in FIG. 3D, an over clad material (Sumitomo 3MM epoxy film Super10) was laminated on the core pattern portion 32 and heated at 100 ° C. for 1 hour to form an over clad layer 52.

  Next, as shown in FIG.3 (e), the optical board | substrate was peeled from the support substrate 12 which consists of glass wafers, and each piece was isolate | separated.

  It was confirmed that the external pattern portion 42 was formed with an accuracy of ± 5 μm with respect to the optical wiring pattern.

<Example 3>
First, as shown in FIG. 4 (a), an under cladding layer 23 (NTT-AT UV curable epoxy optical waveguide material) is applied on a support substrate 13 made of a glass wafer having a contour pattern portion 63b made of a convex portion. Simultaneously with the formation, the outer pattern portion 43 was formed.

Next, as shown in FIG. 4B, a core material (NTT) is formed on the core pattern forming portion 63a of the silicone mold 63 having a concave portion 63c corresponding to the convex portion of the core pattern forming portion 63a and the outer shape pattern portion 63b. -The core material 35 was cured by filling with UV and irradiating UV.

  Next, as shown in FIG. 4C, the under-cladding layer 23 is formed by pressing the silicone molding die 63 against the under-cladding layer 23 using the convex portion of the outer pattern forming portion 63b as an alignment reference and irradiating with UV. The silicone molding die 63 was peeled off.

  Next, as shown in FIG. 3 (d), an overcladding material (Sumitomo 3M epoxy film Super10) is laminated on the core pattern portion 33 obtained by curing the core material 35, and heated at 100 ° C. for 1 hour. A clad layer 53 was formed.

  Next, as shown in FIG.3 (e), the optical board | substrate was peeled from the support substrate 13 which consists of glass wafers, and each piece was isolate | separated.

  It was confirmed that the outer pattern portion 43 was formed with an accuracy of ± 5 μm with respect to the optical wiring pattern.

Explanatory drawing which shows an example of the manufacturing method of the optical board | substrate of this invention. Explanatory drawing which shows the manufacturing method of Example 1 of the optical board | substrate of this invention. Explanatory drawing which shows the manufacturing method of Example 2 of the optical board | substrate of this invention. Explanatory drawing which shows the manufacturing method of Example 3 of the optical board | substrate of this invention.

Explanation of symbols

10, 11, 21, 31 ... support medium 11, 12, 13 ... support substrate 20, 21, 22, 23 ... under clad layer 30, 31, 32, 33 ... core pattern forming part 35 , 36, 37, 38 ... Core material 40, 41, 42, 43 ... External pattern forming part 50, 51, 52, 53 ... Over cladding layer 60, 61, 62, 63 ... Mold 60a, 61a, 62a, 63a ... Core pattern part 60b, 61b, 62b, 63b ... Outline pattern part

Claims (2)

In an optical substrate manufacturing method including at least an under cladding layer, a core pattern portion obtained by curing a core material, and an over cladding layer,
An under clad forming step of applying and forming an under clad between the external pattern portions on a support substrate having an external pattern portion;
A core molding step of filling and molding a core material in the core pattern forming portion of a molding die having a recess corresponding to the convex portion of the core pattern forming portion and the outer shape pattern portion;
The molding die obtained by the core molding step was pressed onto the under cladding layer, and after the under cladding layer was cured, the molding die was peeled from the core material and the under cladding layer, and the core material was cured. A mold peeling process for forming the core pattern part on the under cladding layer,
An over clad layer forming step of forming an over clad layer on the core pattern portion obtained by curing the under clad layer and the core material;
A support substrate peeling step for peeling the support substrate;
A method for manufacturing an optical substrate, comprising: The method for manufacturing an optical substrate according to claim 1, wherein the molding die has an alignment recess that can be aligned with an outer shape pattern portion provided on a support substrate .