JP3975893B2 - Method for producing metal-coated optical fiber - Google Patents

Description

[0001]
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a metal-coated optical fiber used for optical communication, optical measurement, and the like, and specifically to a method for manufacturing a metal-coated optical fiber that does not have a metal-coated film at the tip.
[0002]
[Prior art]
The metal-coated optical fiber is used as an optical fiber for connecting an optical element and an optical fiber used for optical communication, optical measurement, and the like. The optical element and the optical fiber are put together in one housing, positioned, and the optical fiber is hermetically sealed with solder at the housing penetration. For this reason, it is necessary that the metal coating film is provided on the portion used for hermetic sealing, but it is necessary that the tip portion of the optical fiber has no metal coating film.
[0003]
In the manufacture of such a metal-coated optical fiber, after removing the resin film that protects the optical fiber, a metal-coated film is provided on the exposed optical fiber core wire by various methods. For example, a wet method of performing electroplating after electroless plating (see paragraph 0003 of JP-A-7-27952) or a dry method such as sputtering or ion plating (see paragraph 0003 of JP-A-2002-277797). is there. However, in these methods, the bare bare optical fiber core portion is entirely covered, so when the metal-coated fiber is incorporated into the housing, the end surface of the optical fiber core wire is precisely polished to form a metal-coated film. Remove.
[0004]
By the way, when the metal coating film is provided on the surface of the optical fiber core wire by the above method, the metal coating film is also provided on the end face of the resin coating. A metal coating film formed on a part of such a resin film has poor adhesion. Also, since the resin is soft and the metal coating film is hard, it becomes a layer that is easy to break or drop off, and it is formed on the end face of this resin coating when the metal coated optical fiber is incorporated into the housing or while it is used as an optical device. Some or all of the metal coating film may be peeled off and contaminated inside the housing. In addition, there is a possibility that the optical fiber core wire may be damaged by the metal coating film that has been peeled off, so that the optical element device has a low reliability and a short lifetime.
[0005]
It is also possible to use resist to prevent the end face of the resin coating from being plated. However, when an optical device is assembled using such a metal-coated optical fiber, the optical device is not always highly reliable due to contamination by the resist. The device is not obtained.
[0006]
[Patent Document 1]
JP-A-7-27952 [Patent Document 2]
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2002-277797
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
An object of the present invention is to provide a method in which a metal coating film is not formed around the end face of a resin coating and the surface of the optical fiber core wire is partially metal-coated.
[0008]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
The present invention for solving the above-mentioned problems is to remove the resin coating at the tip of the optical fiber to expose the optical fiber core wire, to apply a catalyst to the exposed surface of the optical fiber core wire, to perform electroless plating, and then to electrolytic plating by forming a metal coating film on the surface of the optical fiber core by an applied in a method of obtaining a metal-coated optical fiber and the optical fiber tip to expose the optical fiber core mounting jig mask flared resin Mask the optical fiber core wire exposed from the coating end face and this end face, and hold the optical fiber core wire attached to the mask jig in a substantially vertical state with the tip of the optical fiber core side down, and electroless plated, Do subsequently remove the mask jig flared, by performing electrolytic plating on site electroless plated, masked by a jig for the mask On the surface of the optical fiber core wire Tsu and forms the metal coating film.
[0009]
In the method of removing the resin coating at the tip of the optical fiber to expose the optical fiber core wire and forming a metal coating film on the surface of the exposed optical fiber core wire to obtain a metal coated optical fiber, the optical fiber core wire is the optical fiber tip is exposed by attaching the jig mask flared masks the optical fiber core near exposed from the end surface and the resin film end face, subjected to dry plating by a dry plating method, a mask then flared The jig is removed, and electroplating is performed on the portion subjected to dry plating to form the metal coating film on the surface of the optical fiber core wire not masked by the mask jig .
[0010]
Incidentally, the heat resistance of the jig mask flared in the present invention, by forming using the chemical resistance of some resin, to prevent damage when attaching the jig to the optical fiber.
[0011]
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
FIG. 1 shows a longitudinal sectional view of a flare-shaped mask jig of the present invention. FIG. 2 shows a state in which the mask is attached to an optical fiber from which the optical fiber core wire is exposed. 1 is an optical fiber resin coating, 2 is an optical fiber core wire, 3 is a resin coating end face, and 4 is a flare mask jig . In this state, the exposed portion of the optical fiber core wire is pretreated so as to be in a substantially vertical state, a catalyst is applied, electroless plating is performed, and electroplating (also referred to as electrolytic plating) is performed.
[0012]
During these series of operations, since the mask jig flared shape is maintained substantially vertical state optical fiber attached, accumulate gas generated bubbles and the A part in FIG. 2, from the treatment liquid, no plated A state can be secured. That is, in the present invention, the term “substantially vertical” indicates a state in which gas accumulates in part A in FIG. 2 and the treatment liquid is retained by this gas, and plating is not applied to the resin coating end face 3 part.
[0013]
The reason for choosing the flare shape as the mask jig is that the surface of the core wire is not scratched at the time of insertion, the wire is prevented from being broken, it is easy to insert, and it does not overlap when multiple fibers are processed at once. is there.
[0014]
【Example】
Next, the present invention will be further described using examples. Note that the electroless plating method, sputtering (also referred to as dry plating) method, and electroplating (also referred to as electrolytic plating ) method in the present embodiment are extremely normal, and there is no particular explanation. I refrained from explaining it in detail.
[0015]
Example 1
The resin coating of the optical fiber with an outer diameter of 0.9 mm is peeled and removed to expose the fiber core wire with a wire diameter of 125 μm and a length of 20 mm, and then a flare pipe made of PP (polypropylene) as a mask jig (outside (Diameter 2 mm, inner diameter 1 mm, length 100 mm). The end of the flare pipe was inserted so as to be located 5 to 10 mm from the end of the resin coating of the optical fiber.
[0016]
In this state, alkali degreasing, pickling, soft etching, coupling agent adsorption, Pd catalyst application, and electroless Ni plating were performed to form a nickel coating film having a thickness of 0.01 to 0.5 μm.
[0017]
Then, remove the jig mask, the mounting electroplating jig portion electroless Ni plating is formed, plated with nickel in a thickness of 2.0~4.0μm sulfamate Ni bath, further thereon Electrolytic Au plating was applied to a thickness of 0.05 to 0.5 μm. At this time, since the end face portion of the resin coating had no electroless nickel coating film, electrolytic plating did not deposit, and a partially metal-coated fiber was obtained.
[0018]
After fixing the fixing part to the tip of the above partially metal-coated fiber using an Au / Sn brazing material, the end face of the fiber was polished, the metal-coated film was removed, and the end face angle was processed to a predetermined end face angle. Then, it attached to the housing | casing with an optical element with an adhesive agent or solder, and obtained the optical element apparatus. A reliability test was conducted using this apparatus, but it was able to withstand use.
[0019]
(Example 2)
The resin coating of the optical fiber with an outer diameter of 0.9 mm is peeled and removed to expose the fiber core wire with a wire diameter of 125 μm and a length of 20 mm, and then a flare pipe made of PP (polypropylene) as a mask jig (outside (Diameter 2 mm, inner diameter 1 mm, length 100 mm). The end of the flare pipe was inserted so as to be located 5 to 10 mm from the end of the resin coating of the optical fiber.
In this state, a nickel coating film having a thickness of 0.01 to 0.5 μm was provided by a sputtering method. At this time, since the plating has a certain direction in the sputtering method, nickel ions did not reach the deep end surface of the resin coating, and no nickel coating film was formed on the end of the resin coating.
[0020]
Then, remove the jig mask, the mounting electroplating jig nickel coating film portion, plated with nickel in a thickness of 2.0~4.0μm sulfamate Ni bath, further thickness on its 0 Electrolytic Au plating of 0.05 to 0.5 μm was applied. At this time, since the nickel coating film was not formed by sputtering on the end face portion of the resin film, nickel was not deposited by electroplating (that is, electrolytic plating) .
[0021]
After fixing the fixing part to the tip of the above partially metal-coated fiber using an Au / Sn brazing material, the end face of the fiber was polished, the metal-coated film was removed, and the end face angle was processed to a predetermined end face angle. Then, it attached to the housing | casing with an optical element with an adhesive agent or solder, and obtained the optical element apparatus. A reliability test was conducted using this apparatus, but it was able to withstand use.
[0022]
【The invention's effect】
As described above, by using the present invention, it becomes possible to supply a partially metal-coated optical fiber, without contaminating the inside of the housing with the metal-coated piece, and without scratching the core part with the metal-coated piece. Thus, a highly reliable optical element device with a long lifetime is possible.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a longitudinal sectional view of a flare-shaped mask jig used in the present invention.
FIG. 2 is an explanatory view showing a state in which the mask jig is attached to an optical fiber.
[Explanation of symbols]
1 ----- optical fiber resin coating 2 ----- optical fiber core line 3 ----- resin film edge 4 ----- mask jig flared

Claims (3)

The optical fiber core wire is exposed by removing the resin coating at the tip of the optical fiber, applying a catalyst to the surface of the exposed optical fiber core, applying electroless plating, and then applying electrolytic plating. In a method of forming a metal-coated film on a metal-coated optical fiber,
Attach a jig mask flared optical fiber tip to expose the optical fiber core by masking the fiber core in the vicinity of exposed from the end face between the resin coating end face and the mask jig is attached while maintaining a substantially vertical state to the distal end of the optical fiber core and the lower the optical fiber is subjected to electroless plating, followed remove the mask jig flared, the electrolytic plating at a site electroless plated And producing the metal-coated optical fiber, wherein the metal-coated film is formed on the surface of the optical fiber core wire not masked by the mask jig . In the method of obtaining a metal-coated optical fiber by removing the resin coating at the tip of the optical fiber to expose the optical fiber core wire, and forming a metal coating film on the surface of the exposed optical fiber core wire,
Attach a jig mask flared optical fiber tip to expose the optical fiber core by masking the fiber core in the vicinity of exposed from the end surface and the resin film end face, subjected to dry plating by dry plating method, then The flare-shaped mask jig is removed, and electroplating is performed on the portion subjected to dry plating to form the metal coating film on the surface of the optical fiber core wire not masked by the mask jig. A method for producing a metal-coated optical fiber. The mask jig flare shape, heat resistance, the production method according to claim 1 or 2 metal coated optical fiber according, characterized in that it is formed by using a chemical resistance of certain resins.

Images