ASSOCIATION CONNECTING ELECTRONICS INDUSTRIES ... - IPC

1 IPC- 8497 -1 Cleaning Methodsand ContaminationAssessment forOptical AssemblyDeveloped by the Photonic Component/Fiber Handling Task Group(5-25a) of the Optoelectronics Assembly Subcommittee (5-25) of IPCU sers of this publication are encouraged to participate in thedevelopment of future :IPC3000 Lakeside Drive, Suite 309 SBannockburn, Illinois60015-1219 Tel 847 847 CONNECTINGELECTRONICS INDUSTRIES Table of .. Reminders .. Cautions .. Discharge (ESD) Caution .. 12 APPLICABLE ConnectingElectronics Industry .. ElectrotechnicalCommission .. IndustryAssociation .. 13 TERMS AND 14 CLEANING Information .. Process Flow .. Criteria Matrix .. MT-Ferrule Connectors .. Composite Bi-Metallic-Ferruled Connectors .. Criteria for Receptacles (withInternal Fiber Stubs) .. of Receptacle Devices (withInternal Fiber Stubs) .. Criteria for Receptacles (withLenses).

2 76 INSPECTION .. Microscope .. Microscope .. End-Face Inspection System .. Issues .. Application .. Templates .. 117 CLEANING for Use .. of Items to be Cleaned .. of Common Cleaning Methods .. Gas .. wipes and Cleaning Cassettes .. Fluids/Wet Wipes .. Swabs .. Tapes/Adhesive Tapes .. Fluids and Wet Swabs .. About Cleaning Fluids .. Evaluation and Qualification .. - Material .. - Design/Shape .. Properties .. Materials .. Process of End-Caps .. Design .. 199 PERFORMANCE Evaluation and Qualificationfor Cleaning Solutions .. of the Microscope .. Under Test .. Cords .. Adapters .. Device .. Technique .. Cords .. Situ End-Faces .. Elements .. Sleeve and Other Surfaces .. and Data Collection .. Test Degradation Testing .. Analysis .. 2310 ELECTROSTATIC CHARGE EFFECT (ESC)AND CONNECTOR Charge Effect (ESC) Duringthe Cleaning Process of Fiber OpticsConnectors [14].

3 23 IPC- 8497 -1 December Charge Accumulation Test .. Equipment .. Sample Preparation .. Apparatus Setup .. Experimental Procedure .. 2411 THE INFLUENCE OF SCRATCHES/CONTAMINATION ON OPTICAL .. Contamination .. Contamination .. Descriptions of OpticalEquipment Indices .. Current Calibrations Methods .. Detection .. Field of View .. Illumination .. Magnification .. Numerical Aperture .. Rules .. 3012 REFERENCE 31 FiguresFigure 4-1 Connector End-Face Inspection Flow .. 3 Figure 4-2 Zones typically used to describe an areaof a single mode endface for the purposesof inspection .. 4 Figure 4-3 Typical connectors using zones for inspection .. 5 Figure 4-4 Multimode MT-Ferrule End-Face (top).Typical MT-Ferruled Connector: 12-Fiber MPO/MTP Connector (bottom) .. 5 Figure 4-5 Ideal SMF APC Composite Bi-Metallic-Ferruled End Face (top).

4 Typical CompositeBi-Metallic-Ferruled Connectors: mm Ferrule (bottom-left) andE2000 Bulkhead Adaptor (bottom-right) .. 5 Figure 4-6 Ideal SMF Receptacle Device with Internalfiber stub measured with a probe at 200X setting.(Note that the core is not illuminated. Therefore itcannot be determined if it isSMF or MMF.) .. 6 Figure 4-7 Receptacle Devices (from Left to Right):1.) GBIC which use SC ports; 2.) SFPwhich use LC ports; and 3.) XFP whichuse LC ports. (Note that it cannot bedetermined if these devices use fiberstubs or lenses until the ports areinspected with a fiberscope.) .. 6 Figure 4-8 More Receptacle Devices: 1.) Middle - Xenpakwhich use SC ports; 2.) Left - SFF which canuse a variety of optical ports (LC shown); and3.) Right - POD which can use a variety ofoptical ports (MTP shown). (Note that it cannotbe determined if these devices use fiber stubsor lenses until the ports are inspected with afiberscope.

5 6 Figure 5-1 EDX Spectrum of a Contaminated ConnectorShowing Human Contamination .. 7 Figure 5-2 Contaminated and Damaged ConnectorEnd-Face [1] .. 7 Figure 6-1 Optical Microscope .. 8 Figure 6-2 Video Microscope .. 9 Figure 6-3 Automated Inspection System .. 9 Figure 6-4 Hand Held Optical Microscope Utilizedon Typical In-Hand Connectors .. 10 Figure 6-5 Hand Held Video Scope/Adaptors .. 10 Figure 6-6 Bench Top System .. 10 Figure 6-7 Probe Unit .. 10 Figure 6-8 Typical Inspection Template .. 11 Figure 7-1 Typical Canned Air Dispenser .. 12 Figure 7-2 Typical Lint Free Wipes (Paper), CleaningCassette (Cloth) and Card Cleaner (Cloth)and In-Situ Cassette (Cloth) .. 13 Figure 7-3 Comparison of Particulate Contamination inWashed and Unwashed Cleaning Cloth [18] .. 14 Figure 7-4 Typical FO Connector Cleaning Swabs .. 14 Figure 8-1(a) Close-up of the PVC End-cap forST Connector.

6 (b) EDX Spectrum of theContamination from the End-face of theST Connector Showing the Presence ofAluminium.. 16 Figure 8-2(a) Fiberscope image of ContaminatedConnector with Organic Film.(b) FTIR Spectra of the Organic Film-Polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS).. 17 Figure 8-3X-ray images of end-cap for ST connectors:(a) Standard size ferrule-type, (b) Shortferrule-type, (c) newly designed, non-contactend-cap.. 18 Figure 8-4(a) Close-up of the connector ferrule withthe blue, short end-cap. (b) Arrows indicatingmetallic and organic contamination inside ofwhite, ferrule-type end-cap.. 18 Figure 10-1 ST type connector and the sample obtainedby cutting and separating the fiber from restof the cable .. 24 Figure 10-2 SC type connector and the exposedfiber sample obtained by stripping theblue plastic covering.. 24 Figure 10-4 Experimental Flowchart of ESD Experiment .. 24 Figure 10-3 Apparatus Setup Example.

7 24 December 2005 IPC- 8497 -1vFigure 10-5 ESC calculated, generated by CleaningSystem 1[14], cleaning process withCleaning System 1 in front of air ionizer,Cleaning System 1 with air ionizer andadditional exposure of the connector endfaceto ionized air (10S), Cleaning System 2cleaning, Cleaning System 2 cleaning infront of air ionizer.. 25 Figure 10-6 The dependence of the charge generatedfrom number of swiping operations performedwith Cleaning System 1 or Cleaning System 2at different humidity levels; temperature was20 C.. 26 Figure 11-1 This graph compares RL of the connectorsfrom the two scratch experiment groups(wavelength is 1550 nm).. 27 Figure 11-2 Loose Carbon Particles Transferring Pattern(Through SC-SC Adapter Connection) .. 27 Figure 11-3 A particle blocked approximately 20-40% ofthe fiber core. IL-1550 nm/1310 nm (cleanconnector) = dB; IL-1550 nm/1310 nm(contaminated connector) = nm/1310 nm (clean connector) = ; RL-1550 nm/1310 nm (contaminatedconnector) = dB.

8 28 Figure 11-4 Experimental results showing the impact ofparticle distance from the core on IL and average particle size was 5-20 m. Alarge particle with the diameter >100 mlocated at the distance of ~18 m fromthe core resulted in catastrophic failureas shown in Figure 11-5.. 28 Figure 11-5 The fiberscopic image of contaminatedconnector. IL-1550 nm/1310 nm (cleanconnector) = dB; IL-1550 nm/1310 nm (contaminated connector) = dB. RL-1550 nm/1310 nm (cleanconnector) = ; RL-1550 nm/1310 nm(contaminated connector) = edge of the particle is located at thedistance of ~18 m from the middle ofthe core.. 28 Figure 11-6 Typical amount of particles on nm/1310 nm (clean connector) = dB; IL-1550 nm/1310 nm (contaminatedconnector) = dB. RL-1550 nm/1310 nm(clean connector) = dB; RL-1550nm/1310 nm (contaminated connector) = dB.. 28 Figure 11-7 The typical fiberscopic images of theconnector, contaminated with finger printsafter mating with clean reference connector(a), fiberscopic image of the reference fiber aftermating with oil contaminated fiber (b).

9 IL (cleanconnector) - 1550 nm/1310 nm = , RL (clean connector) - 1550/1310 nm = dB dB, IL (contaminated connector) -1550 nm/1310 nm = dB, RL(contaminated connector) - 1550 nm/1310 nm = dB.. 29 Figure 11-8 Field of View Examples .. 30 Figure 11-9 Objective Lens Numerical Aperture .. 31 TablesTable 4-1 Acceptance Criteria for Nonangled PC PolishConnectors .. 4 Table 4-2 Acceptance Criteria for Receptacles .. 6 Table 7-1 Cleaning Need vs. Cleaning Method .. 12 Table 7-2 Comparison of Cleaning Fluid Properties .. 16 Table 8-1 Summary of Design and Material Propertiesfrom ST End-Cap Study .. 17 Table 8-2 End-Cap Material and Design PropertyRequirements .. 18 Table 8-3 Unacceptable End-cap Materials .. 19 Table 9-1 Equipment .. 20 Table 9-2 Recommended DUT sfor each Cleaning Application .. 20 Table 9-3 Example of Data Collection from CleaningExperiment .. 22 IPC- 8497 -1 December 2005viCleaning Methods and ContaminationAssessment for Optical Assembly1 SCOPEThe scope of this specification is to describe the methodsof inspecting and cleaning all optical interfaces so that theirinterconnectivity does not result in loss of optical signal.

10 Italso describes methods of contamination target audience for this standard are ManufacturingOperators, Manufacturing Process Engineers, Quality Engi-neers and Field System IntentThe intent of this standard is not to state aspecific all inclusive process or procedure for cleaningoptical connectors but rather to show several processeswhich are used in the industry and the advantages and dis-advantages for each process. It will also provide an evalu-ation method for each process so that each reader may testor qualify each process to find out which one works bestfor their application. It is not the intent of this standard toadvocate any specific products even though some productnames may be referenced as a matter of usage in processes/procedures/testing discussed in each Caution Safety CautionsOperators shall ensure that thereis no active laser light source generating a light signalthrough the fiber that is being cleaned or many laser signals are invisible to the should also be noted to never look into a ferrule end-facewhile the system s laser is active.