Patent Abstract:
An opto-electronic device comprising opto-electronic circuitry on a lead-frame and an optical guide receptacle for receiving an optical guide coupler, the opto-electronic circuitry comprises signal conversion means whereby an optical signal can be converted into an electrical signal or vice versa, the optical guide receptacle comprises means for guiding reception of an optical guide coupler whereby an optical guide coupler is optically aligned with the signal conversion means when received by said optical guide receptacle.

Full Description:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
   This invention relates to opto-electronic devices and, more particularly, to opto-electronic devices for optical fibre applications. More specifically, although not exclusively, this invention relates to opto-electronic devices for coupling with an optical fibre termination. 
   BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
   Optical fibres are widely used in many applications, for example, optical communication, remote sensing and monitoring. The core of an optical fibre is typically very small and fragile. Therefore, optical fibres are commonly provided with termination connectors for convenient coupling with an opto-electronic device. For example, an optical fibre is terminated with a glass-ferrule for enhanced mechanical stability. The ferrule also provides additional convenience so that an optical fibre core can be more easily aligned with a signal conversion means such as a photo-detector or an optical transmitter. To take advantage of the characteristic optical fibre termination, it will be beneficial to provide opto-electronic devices which are compatible with the optical fibre terminations for more efficient coupling and uncoupling. 
   OBJECT OF THE INVENTION 
   Hence, it is an object of this invention to provide opto-electronic devices for coupling with common optical fibre terminations so as to facilitate efficient coupling and uncoupling between an optical fibre and the opto-electronic devices. At a minimum, it is an object of this invention to provide a useful choice of a packaged opto-electronic devices. 
   SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
   Accordingly, this invention has described an opto-electronic device comprising opto-electronic circuitry on a lead-frame and an optical guide receptacle for receiving an optical guide coupler, the opto-electronic circuitry comprises signal conversion means whereby an optical signal can be converted into an electrical signal or vice versa, the optical guide receptacle comprises means for guiding reception of an optical guide coupler whereby an optical guide coupler is optically aligned with the signal conversion means when received by said optical guide receptacle. An opto-electronic device with an optical guide receptacle mounted on a lead-frame package provides efficient and expeditious coupling. 
   Another advantage of a lead-frame packaged opto-electronic device for coupling with a terminated optical fibre is the production efficiency since a plurality of devices can be formed on a single metal sheet before the plurality of devices are separated from the metal sheet. 
   Preferably, said optical guide receptacle comprises an axially extending aperture for guiding an optical guide coupler towards said signal conversion means for optically aligned coupling axially therewith. 
   Preferably, said axially extending aperture is formed on a cover lid, the cover lid and the optical guide receptacle are integrally moulded, the aperture on said cover lid is aligned with said signal conversion means. 
   Preferably, a focusing lens is formed on the cover lid and at an axial end of said axially extending aperture. 
   Preferably, a plastic housing is moulded on said lead-frame, the plastic housing forms a compartment which contains the opto-electronic circuitry, the compartment is sealed by said cover lid with said signal conversion means is optically communicable with said optical guide receptacle. 
   Preferably, the compartment of said plastic housing is filled with an optically transparent substance and the cover lid is fixed onto said plastic housing. 
   Preferably, said optical guide receptacle is adapted for receiving a packaged optical guide coupler which comprises an optical fibre with a ferule, the optical guide receptacle comprise an axially extending aperture the axis of which is optically aligned with said signal conversion means, the packaged optical guide coupler and the axially extending aperture of said optical guide receptacle is adapted so that the optical fibre is aligned with said signal conversion means when received by said optical guide receptacle. 
   Preferably, the axis of said optical guide receptacle is orthogonal to a mounting plane of the lead-frame. 
   Preferably, said optical guide receptacle comprises a tubular guide for guiding a packaged optical guide coupler axially towards said signal conversion means. 
   Preferably, said lead-frame and said opto-electronic circuitry are contained in a moulded plastic housing, said moulded plastic housing comprises a window which exposes said signal conversion means, said optical guide receptacle comprises an axially extending aperture, the axially extending aperture meets the plastic housing at said window. 
   Preferably, said axially extending aperture protrudes orthogonally from said moulded plastic housing and axially away from said signal conversion means. 
   Preferably, said axially extending aperture has a circular cross-section. 
   Preferably, said optical guide receptacle comprises axially extending alignment means which are circumferentially distributed around said axially extending aperture. 
   Preferably, each said alignment means comprises an axially extending fin. 
   Preferably, said signal conversion means comprises a laser source. 
   Preferably, said laser source is a vertical-cavity surface emitting laser. 
   Preferably, said signal conversion means comprises a photo-detector. 
   Preferably, said opto-electronic circuitry comprises an optical receiver, an optical transmitter or an optical transceiver. 
   Preferably, contact leads of said lead-frame are transversal to the axially extending aperture. 
   Preferably, said opto-electronic circuitry comprises a laser transmitted and a monitoring photo-detector for feedback control of the laser transmitter, laser output is transmitted through said optical guide receptacle. 
   Preferably, the opto-electronic circuitry comprises an optical receiver, said signal conversion means comprises a photo-diode. 
   Preferably, a partial reflector is disposed intermediate the optical guide receptacle and the signal conversion means whereby light travelling between the optical guide receptacle and the signal conversion means is partially reflected to a signal monitoring means for circuitry control. 
   Preferably, the partially reflected light is for feedback control of operating conditions of the signal conversion means. 

   
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     Preferred embodiments of the present invention will be explained in further detail below by way of examples and with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: 
       FIG. 1  shows a schematic cross-sectional view of a first preferred embodiment of an opto-electronic device of this invention, 
       FIG. 2  shows a partially removed schematic perspective view of a second preferred embodiment of an opto-electronic device of this invention, 
       FIG. 3  illustrates an opto-electronic device of  FIG. 2  aligned with an optical fibre termination, 
       FIG. 4  shows a plurality of opto-electronic devices of the second preferred embodiment on a common lead-frame package, 
       FIG. 4A  shows the bottom view of the device of  FIG. 3 , 
       FIG. 5  shows schematically a third preferred embodiment of this invention, 
       FIG. 6  illustrates an exemplary application of an opto-electronic device of  FIG. 1  when coupled with a terminated optical fibre, 
       FIG. 7  illustrates the termination of the optical fibre of  FIG. 6  in a second configuration, and 
       FIG. 8  illustrates an opto-electronic device of this invention with a plurality of guiding fins. 
   

   DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
   Referring firstly to  FIGS. 1 to 3 , an opto-electronic device  100  comprises a housing  110 , a lead-frame  130  and opto-electronic circuitry  140  is shown. The opto-electronic circuitry  140  comprises an opto-electronic signal conversion device such as, for example, an optical transmitter with a laser or an LED source, an optical receiver with a photo-detector, or an optical transceiver where appropriate. Preferably, the opto-electronic circuitry  140  comprises an integrated circuit (IC) chip. The opto-electronic circuitry  140  is mounted and connected to a conductive lead-frame for external connection. The housing  110  comprises a lower housing  112  and an upper housing  120 . The lower housing  112  is made of plastics and is moulded with the lead-frame at between the lateral ends of the legs  132  of the lead-frame  130 . The plastic lower housing  112  is moulded so that compartment  114  with a top aperture  116  surrounded by peripheral walls  118  is formed. The opto-electronic circuitry  140  is placed in this hollow compartment  114  and is supported by a platform of the lead-frame which is in turn supported by the lower plastic housing  112 . The opto-electronic circuitry  140  is fixed in place by transparent fastening substances such as resin or other appropriate optically transparent medium. This transparent fastening medium also contributes to the fastening of the upper housing  120  to the lower housing  112  where appropriate. 
   The upper housing  120  is also made of plastics and comprises a cover lid  122 , a focusing lens  124  and an optical guide receptacle  126 . The optical guide receptacle  126  comprises an axial barrel defining an axially extending aperture for guiding an optical guide coupler axially towards the signal conversion means  142  (which is a photo-detector in case of an optical receiver or a laser or LED source in case of an optical transmitter) for optical alignment therewith. A stop  128  is disposed intermediate the top free end of the optical guide receptacle  126  and the focusing lens  124  which is disposed at the junction of the optical guide receptacle  126  and the cover lid  122 . The stop  128  provides adequate clearance between the head of an optical guide  150  and the focusing lens  124 . The internal bore  129  of the optical guide receptacle is adapted so that when an optical guide is duly received by the optical guide receptacle, the optical fibre  150  will be aligned with the signal conversion means  142  for optical communication. 
   In the arrangement of  FIGS. 1 and 2 , the axis of the optical receptacle and the core of the optical fibre are coaxial, with their common axis aligned to the signal conversion means  142 . The upper housing  122  is attached to the lower housing  112  by, for example, ultra-sonic welding or glue fastening. To facilitate speedy assembly between the lower and upper housings, location means, such as slot and lug pairs may be correspondingly distributed on the corresponding periphery of the upper and lower housings. In order to ensure optimal alignment between the optical fibre module  152  and the opto-electronic signal conversion means  142 , the upper and lower housing may be fastened with a referencing or testing optical fibre module  152  received and operating within the optical guide receptacle so that the upper and lower housings are fastened together when an optimal signal output is detected. The focusing lens  124  is convex towards the optical fibre  150 . Of course, the focusing lens can be other appropriate lens such as a concave lens where appropriate. 
   The opto-electronic circuitry is mounted on a conductive platform of the lead-frame  130 . The plane of the conductive platform is substantially parallel to a plane defined by the flat portions of the free ends of the legs of the lead-frame. This plane of the platform is substantially orthogonal to the axis of the internal bore of the optical receptacle. 
   Referring to  FIGS. 4 and 4A , a plurality of opto-electronic devices  100  are formed on a stamped metallic sheet  160  which comprises a plurality of lead-frames. Such lead-frame comprises a rigid legs and platform for mounting the opto-electronic circuitry. Hence, a plurality of lead-frame can be formed at the same time on a single metal sheet prior to the formation of separate lead-frame packaged devices and this substantially enhances production efficiency. 
   In a second preferred embodiment as shown in  FIG. 5 , the opto-electronic device comprises an optical transmitter with a vertical-cavity surface-emitter laser (VCSEL). The VCSEL drive current and output power is controlled by an electronic driver chip plus passive components inside the package formed by the upper and lower housing. The output power of the VCSEL can be controlled by closed-loop monitoring wherein output light of the VCSEL is partially reflected by a reflector  210  mounted intermediate the focusing lens and the laser source  142 . The reflected light from the reflector  210  hits a monitor photo-diode mounted side-by-side to the laser source. The photo-current detected at the monitor photo-detector is a measure of the total laser output power which is fed back to the control circuitry for adjusting drive current and therefore stabilizing output power of the laser source. The additional components can be placed on an additional sub-mount inside the packaged device  200 . The lead-frame package is typically a through-hole mountable design or a surface mount design as shown more particularly in  FIGS. 1-3 . After the components have been mounted inside the device compartment, the cover lid of the upper housing can be attached to the lower housing by glue. The cover lid can be aligned with the components inside the lower housing by active or passive alignment. In the active alignment mould, the upper and lower housing will be aligned when the VCSEL is emitting light and the light emission detected by a test optical fibre inserted in the barrel of the optical guide receptacle. In the passive alignment mould, the cover lid  122  of the upper housing is fastened to the periphery of the lower housing using appropriate mechanical location means. 
   The focusing means  124  is adapted for maximal coupling efficiency and/or wide alignment tolerances. The focusing lens  124  can be integrally formed with the upper housing or a detachable housing. The configuration comprising a lead-frame mounted with a housing with a pre-aligned optical barrel permits a wide mechanical alignment tolerances. This is particularly important because optical fibre termination modules often require a wide lateral alignment tolerance due to fabrication tolerances in fibre ferrule. A wide longitudinal alignment tolerance is preferred so as to facilitate elastic coupling between a fibre ferrule and an optical module. This characteristic is particularly useful in connection with an optical connector since a fibre ferrule can be very short to form a fibre stub type of device. 
     FIGS. 6 and 7  shows an exemplary application of the opto-electronic device  100  in which the fibre stub and the opto-electronic device are mechanically connected by a spring-type connector device. The distance of the ferrule and-facite to the lid alignment plane will vary depending on the resilience of the spring  170 . A wide longitudinal alignment tolerance of more than 0.5 mm can be obtained with such an arrangement. For example, in  FIG. 6 , the fibre stub is pushed by external force towards the stub inside the optical barrel. The compressive force can be due to connection with another fibre. In  FIG. 7 , there is no externally applied force on the fibre stub and the spring  170  is relaxed, whereby pushing the fibre stub away from the stub and the focusing lens. However, coupling of the signal conversion means with the fibre should remain as constant as possible over the entire longitudinal coupling range. 
   To further enhance speedy and accurate alignment between a fibre stub and the opto-electronic device, a plurality of radially extending fins may be formed on the formed on the exterior of the barrel  126  (as shown in  FIG. 8 ) so as to guide insertion of an optical fibre stub into coupling with the signal-conversion means  124  of the device  100 . 
   In this specification, parts which are common to the various embodiments or examples use the same numerals where appropriate for succinctness. 
   While the present invention has been explained by reference to the examples or preferred embodiments described above, it will be appreciated that those are examples to assist understanding of the present invention and are not meant to be restrictive. Variations or modifications which are obvious or trivial to persons skilled in the art, as well as improvements made thereon, should be considered as equivalents of this invention. 
   Furthermore, while the present invention has been explained by reference to a laser source, it should be appreciated that the invention can apply, whether with or without modification, to other opto-electronic devices without loss of generality.

Technology Classification (CPC): 6