Microinjection Molding and Passive Assembly

At HUBER+SUHNER Cube Optics, we have perfected the injection molding of polymers to ultra-high precision. We achieve a surface roughness on replicated polymer parts within the range of 5nm. In addition to this, the structural accuracy is better than 150nm.

We use this technology for our Polymer Optical Benches (POB) which feature extremely high precision alignment structures. Because of the ultra-high manufacturing precision, a completely passive assembly of optical sub-components is possible. What this means is that in comparison to traditional assemblies, the alignment of for example the collimator and fiber does not actively need to be measured and adjusted. Instead, the optical elements are passively placed on the alignment structures of the POB resulting in a perfect alignment.

Such a passive assembly does not only reduce manufacturing costs, but it also makes significantly reduced component sizes possible. The result is that the components are up to 100 times smaller than competing products based on classic assemblies.

Integration of Active Elements

With this platform technology, we utilize the integration and combination of various optical elements to achieve a broad variety of functions:

First of all, there is the optical wavelength division multiplexers (WDM) in a miniature size. Those passive WDMs not only feature a small size. They furthermore are leading edge in terms of reliability and sturdiness. Not only qualified by Central Office Telcordia Standards, they also exceed even the uncontrolled environment reliability requirements. With these excellent capabilities, our muxes are employed in even the harshest conditions like deserts, polar regions, mining, defense or non-pressure controlled environments 5000m below sea level. 

The POB can also host other passive elements such as various filters, mirrors, or semi-mirrors and is tailored to work in a wide optical spectrum. Ranging from visible to infrared, it is used in telecoms to ultraviolet light in sensing applications.

We also integrated active elements, such as lasers, photo detectors, trans-impedance amplifiers etc. into the POB and combined them with multiplexing functionality. Thus enabled multi-lambda detection devices used in sensing, test and measurement applications.