Development of an Electrostatically Bonded Fiber Optic Connection Technique

This paper describes the development and fabrication of prototype multichannel fiber optic connector subassemblies. The design is based on state-of-the-art fabrication techniques which use anisotropic silicon etching and electrostatic bonding. The advantages of these techniques, as well as the manner in which they are employed in a fabrication sequence, are discussed in detail. It is shown that accurate fiber positioning in a two-dimensional array can be achieved without stringent control of fiber diameter. Results of fabrication of prototypes are presented.