Optical Sub-Assembly Handling During Manufacturing

Application:

The world's largest supplier of optical communication products required a special carrier for their small Optical Sub-Assembly (OSA) manufacturing process. Their OSA device, which is comprised of many small, fragile passive and active components, is a high-end product that enables 100GHz infrastructure.

The company reached out to Gel-Pak in search of a device carrier that would optimize manufacturing throughput and protect these fragile components to maximize yield.

Challenges:

  • It was important to the customer that the OSA components be completely immobilized by the carrier for intricate inspection and device adjustment processes. Previous attempts to use a cavity-style carrier such as a waffle pack resulted in scratches and damage to the device
  • The device carrier needed to protect the component against Electrostatic Discharge (ESD)
  • The customer required a date code system integrated with the carrier for production lot management.

Gel-Pak Solution:

  • Gel-Pak provided this customer with an AD conductive Gel-Box product which uses a static dissipative (ESD) Gel. The Gel-Pak product provided just the correct amount of tack to hold the customer's device in place during the manufacturing process as well meeting the required ESD specs.
  • Gel-Pak further customized the product by screen printing a date barcode system directly on the product in order to facilitate their production lot management process.

Outcome:

  • The customer improved their throughput and product yield by 20%
  • The customer is now collaborating with Gel-Pak on custom carrier for another highly sensitive device.