QUESTION:
What is Chemical Mechanical Planarization and how is it used in the fiber optic cable assembly process?
ANSWER:
CMP flock pile pads provide two functions in the polishing process for MT ferrules:
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The primary purpose is to etch away the thermoset or thermoplastic on the MT ferrule and leave the fibers at a specific, controllable protrusion.
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The secondary purpose is to polish the fibers.
Most polishing films have a single purpose: they polish. For MT ferrules, the CMP process uses a flock pile pad to provide a hybrid of chemical etching and abrasive polishing. This dual-purpose film achieves both etching and polishing by combining two forces: chemical and mechanical. The mechanical forces are motion, pressure, and velocity of the substrate (in this case, the connector) across the CMP flock pile pad. The flock pile pad is a nylon material secured to a base-film material such as polyethylene terephthalate. The individual piles (nylon fibers) range from .3 to .5 mm in length. This allows the chemical to fully achieve a good coverage surface of the MT ferrule while enabling it to etch away the thermoset or thermoplastic to achieve a flat and even surface.
READ THE FULL BLOG ARTICLE HERE: Using Chemical Mechanical Planarization (CMP) to polish MT ferrules and get repeatable, predictable results
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