Method of Fixing an Optical Fibre in a Laser Package
Mark Shaw, Roberto Galeotti and Giacomo Coppo
Optical Technologies Italia SpA
Viale Sarca 222 20126 Milano, Italia
Abstract
In order to couple the light emitted from a semiconductor
laser into the core of an optical fibre, the simplest option is to
use a butt coupling. In this case the core of the optical fibre is
the same size as the emitting area of the laser and the NA of
the fibre is greater than or equal to the divergence of the
emitted beam. However where this is not the case and the
core and laser emitting are not matched it is necessary to use a
lens system. This lens system then focuses the divergent light
into the fibre core. Though discrete lenses are sometimes used
often this lens is fabricated on the end of the fibre. When the
lens is on the end of the fibre it must be fixed in place in front
of the emitting laser using a method which will hold the fibre
in position relative to the laser during the lifetime of the laser.
This reliability requirement is particularly critical in the case
of lasers with a highly elliptical output beams. In this case the
tolerances for the displacement of a lensed fibre relative to the
laser are extremely tight and a movement of less than 0.5
microns in the vertical direction can cause a drop in coupled
power of greater than 10%. In this paper existing techniques
of fixing the fibre relative to the laser are outlined and
contrasted to an improved method. FEA analysis is used to
demonstrate the differences in design of existing designs and
the improved method. The improved method is described
with salient features such as the fixing of the fibre to a rigid
support member and the laser welding process used to fix the
rigid support member in front of the laser explained in detail.
Reliability information is also presented demonstrating the
capability of this technique in the fixing of an optical fibre
relative to a laser device.
Introduction
Often in laser diodes the light emerging from the diode is
highly elliptical, this light then has to be coupled into the core
of an optical fibre using some form of lens system. Discrete
lens systems have been described [1,2] but by far the most
popular technique is to use a lens fabricated on the end of the
fibre [3,4,5,6,7,8]. Using this type of lens with 980nm pump
lasers it is possible to obtain in the production environment
coupling efficiencies of greater than 70%.
The disadvantages of this type of lens are the strict
alignment tolerances required to maintain the necessary
coupling efficiency [5,9,10]. The method with which the fibre
is fixed into the package therefore must be extremely stable.
The standard approach is to metallise the fibre and then solder
it into a metal tube. This tube is then fixed onto a metal
platform using laser welding and a suitable welding clip
[6,9,10]. The solder used for fixing the fibre into the tube is
normally hard solder such as Au/Sn [11,12]. Other solders
such as Pb/Sn have been tried but problems have been
experienced due to the creep of the solder and the
disalignment of the fibre relative to the laser chip. The
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method described above relies on several aspects: a good
adhesion between the metallisation and the fibre, a stable
solder, a form of the fibre support which does not stress the
fibre, and a laser welding process that will leave the structure
stable.
Standard approach
Metallisation
The metallisation process consists of the deposition of
diverse layers of metal on the fibre using sputtering or
evaporation techniques. The adhesion of these layers between
each other and the glass fibre during the life of the
components are critical.
Reliability tests using this technique to Bellcore type
specifications have been passed (in OTI and in other
companies [10,11]). However extra tests using larger sample
sizes and failures taken from production process screening
tests have occasionally shown movement of the laser relative
to the fibre.
The isolation of the cause of such micro/nano movement is
extremely difficult as all the materials and joints between the
laser diode emitting area and the fibre core are potential
causes of movement. These movements are also so small due
to the strict tolerances that conventional displacement
measurement techniques are very difficult. However
simulations of the stress on the fibre assembly during
temperature cycling (one of the in process screens)
demonstrated a concentration of stress at the point where the
fibre emerges from the metallisation near the lens.
During Subsequent analysis of devices which had
demonstrated the disalignment using a scanning electron
microscope (SEM) a delamination of the metallisation from
the fibre was observed exactly at the point where the fibre
exits the metal. The fibre is also fixed into the second tube
that provides the hermeticity but the delamination effect is not
large enough to produce a loss of the hermetic seal.
To verify the severity of this problem a large number of
fibre assemblies where examined using the SEM before and
after temperature cycling (-40°C +85°C) and re-examined
after the cycling test. In a small percentage of cases the
delamination phenomenon was again observed, an extreme
example of this phenomenon is shown in figs 1 and 2.
This problem of nanometer movement was only observed
on a small number of devices and the screening processes was
sufficient to eliminate the suspect devices during the
production process, however it does serve to reduce the
production yields. The variable yield at the screening process
could probably be due to the fact that the process of
deposition and therefore the adhesion of the metal layers is
difficult to control.
2001 Electronic Components and Technology Conference

Figure 1 Fibre assembly showing delaminated metallisation
Figure 2 Close up of delaminated metallisation
Materials
The solder most used for the fixing of the fibre into the
metal tube is Au/Sn. Solders such as Pb/Sn have been used
but have shown problems due to creep and intermetallic
problems [13,14,15,16,]. Even “hard” solder such as Au/Sn
are still not ideal from the fatigue or creep problems, which
could give rise to small movements of the fibre
[17,18,19,20,21].
The use of “hard” solders for fixing the fibre into the
metal tube can also subject the fibre to large stresses during
temperature excursions because of the different coefficients of
expansion of the materials involved. These stresses can cause
the propagation of micro-cracks especially if a mechanical
stripping operation has been used to remove the outer coating
of the fibre. One method of avoiding this concentration of
stress is to use a longitudinal slot along the fibre axis. This
slot has the effect of leaving an axis free where the solder can
expand with the consequent reduction in stress [11]. The
exact form of the support has therefore a role in the amount of
stress in the fibre. The other materials involved are those
chosen for the support which must be laser weldable. The
various coefficients of expansion of these materials can have a
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large effect on the stress generated within the fibre assembly
structure and the glass fibre [22].
Laser welding
The laser welding process is very important when welding
components where the alignment tolerances are very tight such
as 980nm pump laser devices.
The choice of material for the support for laser welding is
normally between: Kovar, Invar, Stainless Steel and Nickel.
The presence of microcracks in the laser welds, which can
then propagate during the life of the component, must be
avoided. In stainless steel certain free machining types
contain elements, for example Se which can cause the
formation of such cracks. Another cause of cracks can be the
plating on the support to enable the metallised fibre to be
soldered to the support [23,24,25,26,27,28]. The presence of
phosphorous must be avoided and electrolytic plating is
therefore preferred, the thickness of the gold layer also must
be tightly controlled. To avoid plating problems the support
can however be selectively plated to provide plating free
zones where the component will be laser welded but this will
increase cost.
OTI approach
In laser packages two tubes are often used the first to fix
the alignment and the second tube some distance from the
first, this tube also fixed to the fibre in the same manner is
then soldered into the package wall to provide the hermetic
seal. The use of two tubes is preferred in order to de-couple
any stress from the expansion of the package during the
operation of the device from the temperature controlled
optical platform [10,15]. A method of fixing the fibre into
both these two tubes that avoids the use of metallisation would
be extremely useful. Glass solder has been used to solder a
fibre to a metal support, for the provision of hermeticity
[29,30,31,32,33,34]. When used for alignment with a single
support, the support provides the alignment with the end of the
fibre and the lens protruding past the end of the single support
which then makes the hermetic seal with the package wall
[29].
The use of glass solder has the advantage that without the
metallisation the length of fibre between the two tubes has no
metal coating. This will improve the de-coupling of the stress
from the package and slightly improve the thermal
performance of the package without the heat conducted from
the package to the welding platform. The fibre reliability will
not be degraded for example by moisture absorption as the
bare fibre will be inside the hermetic package. The first
support also does not require plating so that it is possible to
avoid the problems associated with the plating in the laser
welding process.
Component characteristics
The choice of materials for the support, the glass solder
and the form of the support are important, as it is important to
reduce the amount of stress on the fibre to a minimum. Any
stress on the fibre can increase the probability of the
propagation of micro-cracks. If the laser needs to be used
with Polarising Maintaining Fibre (PMF) any stress on the
fibre will cause the extinction ratio of the PMF fibre to change
2001 Electronic Components and Technology Conference
affecting laser performance. The supports should therefore be
designed to minimise stress without overcomplicating the
design [37]. FEA analysis of different structures has been
extensively used to simulate the stresses in the fibre and the
solder in order to limit these stresses in the design (see section
on the FEA results).
The OTI design consists of two tubes, the first unplated
tube where the end of the fibre and lens protrude is not fixed
to the package wall, but is laser welded to the optical weld
platform in front of the laser. The second tube, some distance
from the first, is soldered to the wall of the package with
metallic solder to give the hermetic seal. The materials were
chosen to match as closely as possible the coefficient of
expansion of the fibre while maintaining low stresses on the
fibre. Kovar was therefore chosen instead of Invar, as no glass
solder of sufficiently low expansion was available. The two
tubes have an extremely small internal diameter (150µm) with
respect to the fibre (125µm) which is as small as practical for
the economical production of the metal tubes and to give a
good glass solder joint between the fibre and the Kovar.
Figure 3 Fibre support tube welded in place in front of the
laser chip
If different diameter fibres are used then a corresponding
incremental hole diameter could be used. Higher internal
diameters of tube relative to the fibre [35,36,38] have been
shown in the FEA analysis to lead to higher stress on the fibre.
Higher stress levels can also be produced when the fibre is
offset relative to the centre of the tube. A simple way of
avoiding this offset stress is to reduce the diameter of the tube,
which will restrict the amount of offset. Previous work has
also shown that offset fibres can also be subject to larger
movements during temperature cycling than fibres soldered in
the centre of the support tube [21,22]. An additional factor is
the use of a counter bore in the tube where the fibre emerges
which reduces the concentration of stress at this point.
The FEA results have shown that combination of the
materials, (Kovar and the glass solder used) and the OTI
design of the support members chosen will produce less stress
on the fibre or in the glass solder than any of the published
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combinations of solder and support members
[10,11,18,29,30,31,32,33,34,35,36,38].
Finite Element Analysis
In order to evaluate the optimal combination of solder
material and support geometry, which minimises the stress
induced on the fibre and on the solder, a complete
investigation based on finite element analysis method has been
done.
The analysis made was of static stress, where the stress is
supposed to be induced on the structure only from the heating,
cooling and solidification of the material used for the
soldering.
To enable a reasonable speed of calculations a simplified
two-dimensional analysis, which takes advantage of the
cylindrical symmetry where possible, was previously
compared with a complete three-dimensional one and a perfect
agreement between the two has been found. Boundary
conditions were imposed in an area where the support is
supposed to be held during soldering.
The geometry of the soldering material was taken from SEM
images reproducing the form the material assumes after
solidifying. This geometry was then taken as the stress-free
geometry at the temperature at which the material solidified,
and the complete structure was then imposed to be at room
temperature 25°C for the values reported below, other
simulations at –40°C have been carried out for comparison
purposes. The stresses are then calculated using the specific
FEM software Algor®.
One defect of this technique is that it assumed that the
material properties used in the simulation depend linearly with
temperature. In fact the dependence with temperature of some
of the properties involved in calculations (coefficient of
expansion and young’s modulus) are extremely non-linear
near the solidification temperature. A complete analysis
therefore would need to take into account these non-
linearities. However for the purposes of comparing different
structures the model used gives reliable results.
Von Mises
223 141
a,b c
a
0 0
c
b
Figure 4 Stress map of the OTI design: a) glass solder section,
b) cut of complete 3d support, c) fibre only. Left
hand Stress scale designs, a),b) right hand scale
design c)
In Fig 4 the map of calculated stress is shown, with the
relative mesh, on a section of the front part of the support
2001 Electronic Components and Technology Conference
member (a), on the complete 3d model of the support (b) and stress induced on the fibre is calculated for different hole
of the fibre (c). The counter bore which lowers the value of diameters. But another advantage can be taken from a smaller
the stress where the fiber exits the glass solder can be seen, diameter of the support: if it is larger than the diameter of the
without this there is a concentration of stress at this point fibre, as it has to be to allow some tolerance during
which can lead to the propagation of cracks. In Fig 5the Von manufacture, it is possible that the fibre will be offset relative
Mises stress induced along the solder on the arrows in Fig 4a, to the centre of the support. This offset can create levels of
is plotted. stress different from those calculated in ideal condition. In
table 2 the differing levels of stress with different hole sizes is
Von Mises coeff. along solder shown. The offset is calculated considering the fibre offset to
(N/mm2)
230
within 5 µm of the edge of the hole within the support tube. It
can easily be seen that the smaller the hole the smaller the
220
permitted offset and therefore the lower stress induced on the
210 fibre.
200

190

180

170 a Von Mises

160 223 301
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12displacement
13 14 15 16 17 18

Figure 5 Maximum stress along solder

a b

In Table 1 the calculated stress generated in the structure are

shown both for AuSn and the glass solder used in OTI. These
are the stresses when the structure is cooled from the 0 0
solidification temperature down to the room temperature b
(25°C). Max stress is the maximum stress present in the
complete structure (solder + fibre + kovar). Fibre stress is the
maximum stress in the fibre. Again the stress is calculated
according to Von Mises.

Solder Stress on fibre Max stress Figure 6 Geometry (left) and Stress map (right) for different
material (N/mm2) (N/mm2) hole sizes: a) 150 µm, b) 250µm. Left hand stress
Glass 141 223 scale design a). Right hand scale design b)
AuSn 370 490
Table 1 Stress results in OTI structure, internal diameter Comparisons have also been made between the optimised
OTI assembly and other designs for example the slotted rod
150µm
designs [11,12] with Au/Sn solder, where again the optimised
OTI design produced lower stress values.
Fibre
Fibre stress with Fibre stress with Hermeticity
support Hole
centred fibre offset fibre Several of the fibre assembly components after being fixed
diameter
(N/mm2) (N/mm2) into the laser package and the laser package lid sealed in place
(µm)
were tested for fine and gross leak. Good results where
150 141 192 obtained for the leak test both before and after thermal cycling
157 160 - of the devices, demonstrating the hermeticity of the OTI glass
163 178 - solders design.
176 180 -
200 184 241 PMF results
250 188 250 Three pieces of PMF fibre (Fujikura Panda 1550) were
soldered into tubes using the glass solder process. The tubes
Table 2 Simulated stress value with different hole sizes and (internal diameter 300µm) where soldered with a long length
fibre offset of bare fibre protruding from the tube in order to have
sufficient fibre to make a splice. The splice was required to
extend the fibre to the monitoring equipment. The soldered
It has been already shown [18] that the thinner the solder,
fibres with the splices were then placed in a thermal cycling
i.e. the smaller the internal diameter, the lower the stress
chamber along with a control spliced fibre. The extinction
induced on the fibre. This can be seen in Table 2 where the
ratio was then monitored during thermal cycling -40°C +85°C

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using a Polarisation extinction ratio meter from the Santec
Corporation. A typical result can be seen in figure 7.
The results show good extinction ratios with all the fibres
showing values above the 20dB specification during the
thermal cycling demonstrating the low stress obtained. The
results may be slightly better than those reported as it was
necessary to use a temporary connector to connect the fibre to
the extinction ratio meter which can induce some stress on the
fibre.
27
extinction ratio in dB
26
25
24
0 201 401 602
No of cycles
Figure 7 Variation of the polarisation extinction ratio during
thermal cycling
These results were obtained using tubes with an internal
diameter of 300 µm due to the availability of the tubes, further
tests with the optimised 150µm support tubes using 980nm
PMF fibre are now being conducted.
Thermal cycling stability results.
Several modules using the two support tubes have been
assembled into laser devices.
Figure 8 Adhesion of glass solder after thermal cycling
Thermal cycling tests –40°C +85°C has then been
performed on the devices and the output power of the devices
measured. Small variations in power (below 5%) where noted
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over the first 20 cycles the devices have then remained stable
up to 250 cycles.
Two of the modules have been opened and inspected using
a SEM (see fig 8). This inspection has confirmed the good
adhesion of the glass solder to the fibre after the thermal
cycling.
Conclusion
A design for a fibre assembly for use in laser packages has
been produced using glass solder which produces very low
100 stress in the fibre. The low stress nature of the fibre assembly
means that it is also suitable for use with Polarisation
80
Maintaining Fibre. The high reliability of the new assembly
60 due its low stress design has also been demonstrated.
Temperature in °C
40
Acknowledgements
20 The authors would like to thank Giovanni Tramontana for
0
his assistance in the production and testing of the fibre
assemblies and laser modules.
-20
ER [dB]
Temperature [°C]
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-40
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