Multi-fiber alignment package for tilted facet optoelectronic components

Abstract

A method of compensating for the angular coupling of optical fibers to a tilted facet optoelectronic component involves a precise calculation of the coupling angle with respect to the active layer of the component and with respect to the side walls of the package in which the component is to be mounted. With these angles computed, the tilted facet component is positioned on a carrier at an offset to the perpendicular such that input/output fibers can exit the component package perpendicularly to its sidewalls. The component is secured to the carrier by a solder having a high melting point such that subsequent soldering of parts to the carrier will not affect the component positioning. A localized cooling method then allows the sequential alignment and soldering of one optical fiber at a time to the offset tilted facet component, while previously aligned and soldered optical fibers are held fixed. This method utilizes the mechanical property of a sharp melting point eutectic alloy solder or a pure metal solder for the fiber connections and is effective for multi-fiber optoelectronic packages demanding stability and high precision. A package design for tilted facet optoelectronic components requiring multi-fiber alignment incorporates this feature of localized cooling internally. The package utilizing localized cooling method internally eliminates the tilted facet-optical fiber alignment problem, while providing standard lead configurations.