Asymmetric Optical Member Height Adjustment
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing optical communication modules face challenges in accurately adjusting the position of lenses relative to silicon substrates, which hinders miniaturization and increases costs due to time-consuming height adjustments.
Innovation Solution
An optical member with lenses positioned to deviate from the end face center of a rectangular columnar body, allowing for height adjustment by changing the underside orientation and featuring different distances from the lens center to each side face, enabling precise and broad coverage height adjustment.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of manufacture
If a lens is disposed on a silicon substrate with the lens center coincident with the end face center, then the structure is simple and easy to manufacture, but the height adjustment becomes time-consuming and costly
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies asymmetry by deliberately offsetting the lens center position from the end face center position of the rectangular columnar body. This creates four distinct side faces with different distances to the lens center, allowing the body to be oriented in four different ways to achieve height adjustment without requiring time-consuming shaving or additional spacers.
2Ease of operation
If the lens center position is offset from the end face center position, then the height adjustment becomes easy and precise, but the structure becomes more complex
Solution Approach 1:
The asymmetric offset of the lens center from the end face center creates four distinct orientations for height adjustment. This asymmetric design enables easy height adjustment by simply rotating the rectangular columnar body to different orientations, while the complexity is minimized by using the body's own geometry rather than additional adjustment mechanisms.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent converts a one-dimensional height adjustment problem into a two-dimensional orientation problem. By offsetting the lens center in the horizontal plane, the invention allows height adjustment to be achieved through rotational orientation of the body rather than vertical adjustment, effectively using another dimension to solve the problem.
3Adaptability or versatility
If four different distances from lens center to side faces are created, then broad coverage height adjustment is enabled, but the manufacturing precision requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The invention uses the horizontal plane offset to create vertical height adjustment capability. By positioning the lens center at different horizontal distances from each of the four side faces, the body can be oriented in four different ways to provide broad coverage height adjustment, converting a vertical adjustment requirement into a horizontal positioning feature.
Data Source
AI summary
An optical member includes a body made of an optical material and formed in a square sectional shape, and a lens disposed on at least one end face of the body so that the distances from the lens center to each of the side faces of the body are all different. The optical member is incorporated in an optical communication module as a component for coupling light from a light-emitting device to the end face of an optical fiber.