With the continuous development of optical communication technology, the rapid increase of network connection rate and the rapid rise of streaming media, as one of the basic components of network construction, optical modules are very critical in the entire network construction. High speed, miniaturization, low power consumption, and intelligence are the development trends of optical modules, and the basic requirement of practical communication systems and networks for practical optical modules is high reliability. Therefore, it is necessary to carry out a reliability test before it is officially put into production. What are the reliability testing items for optical modules? Let’s take a look.
The composition of the optical module
The most used on the access side of communication products are small form-factor pluggable (SFP), SFP+ package optical modules and 10G small form-factor pluggable (XFP) optical modules. The optical module consists of the following parts: laser (including the light emitting component TOSA and the light receiving component ROSA), circuit board IC, external accessories (shell, base, circuit board, pull ring, buckle, unlocking piece, rubber plug, etc.).
Module Reliability Test Items
Mechanical Shock and Vibration
It is inevitable that the product will be thrown around during transportation, and it will inevitably be bumped during use. Even if it is installed on the equipment, it is very likely to encounter vibration caused by the fan. Mechanical shock and vibration is the prevention and screening work in advance for the various bad conditions that the product may encounter.
Thermal Shock
When a cold glass is suddenly poured into boiling water, due to the violent thermal expansion and contraction, the stress is too late to release and the glass is broken. Although the airtightly packaged optical device will not be broken, the gravitational force caused by the shrinkage and expansion of the internal gas and the inconsistency of the thermal expansion coefficient of each material may also lead to the failure of the airtightness. Thermal shock is mainly aimed at the hermetically packaged devices, which need to be immersed back and forth in a mixture of ice-water at 0°C and boiling water at 100°C. The soaking time is required to be no less than 2 minutes, and the temperature of the water is reached within 5 minutes, and then transferred to another sink within 10 seconds. Do 15 cycles to complete the thermal shock process. This test is for hermetically packaged devices only.
Fiber Reliability
For devices or modules with pigtails, such as pigtailed TOSA, the pigtail force test is also required: According to the different force forms of the pigtail, it is divided into axial torsion, lateral tension, and axial tension. The main parameters are the magnitude of the applied force and the number or time of applying the force. The magnitude of the force and the number of times (time) of force are determined according to whether the fiber is 025 coated fiber, loose fiber (such as 09 loose), tight fiber (09 tight), or reinforced fiber (such as 3mm intermediate filler wire). protection fiber).
Connector Reliability
For devices and modules with connectors, the reliability of the connectors needs to be checked.
Mainly include Reliability of plugging and unplugging: 200 times plugging and unplugging with external connectors, monitoring optical power. Anti-axial torsion (wiggle): Cisco believes that when the optical fiber cable in optical equipment is subjected to non-axial force, the optical power will change significantly. This is wiggle, and no standard has been found yet. Anti-pull Tote: It is required that the probability of being pulled out is less than 30% in 10 tests.
