Disclosure of Invention
In order to solve the above technical problems, it is desirable to provide an optical module, in which the optical shaping module and the light source are disposed in the same plane, so as to reduce the relative displacement of the two, and thus ensure the stability of the optical index.
The technical scheme of the invention is realized as follows:
The embodiment of the invention provides an optical module, which comprises a PCB, a light-emitting module and a first light shaping module, wherein the light-emitting module comprises at least two substrate blocks and at least one chip, the substrate blocks are directly fixed on the PCB, the chips and the substrate blocks are arranged at intervals, both sides of each chip are clamped by the substrate blocks, the light-emitting direction of the light-emitting module is not parallel to the plane of the PCB, the number of the light-emitting modules is at least one, and the first light shaping module is fixed on the light-emitting side of the light-emitting module and is used for shaping light rays emitted by the light-emitting module.
Preferably, the first light shaping module includes a first supporting structure and a first lens, where the first supporting structure is disposed on two sides of the light emitting module and supports the first lens on a light emitting path of the light emitting module, so that a position of the first lens relative to a light emitting surface of the chip is fixed and the first lens receives light emitted by the chip. The first lenses can be firmly fixed on the light emitting side of the light emitting module through the first supporting structures arranged on the two sides of the light emitting module, and the light beams emitted by the corresponding chips are located in the same optical axis, so that the positions of the first lenses and the light beams are fixed relative to each other, and the light emitting module is prevented from being influenced by the directivity and the divergence angle stability of the light emitted by the light emitting module under the condition that deformation is caused by inconsistent thermal matching coefficients of the chips and the PCB.
Preferably, the first light shaping module is fixed to the light emitting module in such a manner that the first support structure clamps two outermost substrate blocks of the light emitting module. The shaping module is directly fixed on the light emitting module, so that the relative displacement of the shaping module and the light emitting module caused by deformation of the PCB and other reasons can be further reduced.
Preferably, the optical module further comprises a second light shaping module comprising a second support structure and a second lens, the second light shaping module being configured such that the second support structure supports the second lens such that the second lens shapes all light rays passing through the first light shaping module.
Preferably, the second light shaping module is fixed to the first light shaping module in such a way that the second support structure clamps the first support structure. The second light shaping module is directly fixed on the first light shaping module, so that the relative displacement generated after the relative movement of the two light shaping modules can be reduced, and the relative displacement with the light source is further reduced.
Preferably, the light emitting direction of the light emitting module is perpendicular to the plane of the PCB. Through the structure with PCB board vertically light emitting module can reduce the area occupied by light emitting module on the PCB board, has improved the flexibility ratio of PCB board wiring of arranging.
Preferably, the chip is an edge-emitting laser chip. The edge-emitting laser chip has high power density and high pulse peak power, and when the light-emitting module comprises a plurality of chips, the edge-emitting laser chip can form an edge-emitting laser stacked array, and the power of the light-emitting module is flexibly configured. In addition, by selecting the edge-emitting laser chip, the existing edge-emitting laser chip light shaping scheme can be reused, and the like products with the existing edge-emitting laser as a light source can be directly replaced.
Preferably, through grooves are formed in the PCB below the chip and/or on two sides of the chip, and internal stress of the PCB can be reduced through the configuration of the through grooves.
Preferably, the substrate block is constructed in a multi-layer structure, the substrate block is constructed in a manner that two outermost layers are copper layers, and an intermediate layer is a molybdenum copper layer or a molybdenum layer, so that the CTE coefficient difference between the chip and the substrate block is reduced, and the stress is reduced.
The light-emitting module is directly arranged on the PCB, the light-shaping module and the light-emitting module are symmetrically arranged on the same substrate, so that the stress of the light-shaping module and the light source at high and low temperatures is reduced, the displacement generated during integral deformation is the same displacement, smaller relative displacement is generated, the relative position is ensured to be fixed, and the directivity and the divergence angle of the light-emitting module are prevented from being influenced. Meanwhile, the structure of the PCB in the optical module is selected more freely, and the installation and matching problems of the structure required by the light-emitting module are not required to be considered, so that the influence of the PCB structure on the light-emitting module structure is reduced.
Detailed Description
The technical solutions in the embodiments of the present invention will be clearly and completely described below with reference to the accompanying drawings in the embodiments of the present invention.
In the current technical background, CTE mismatch between the light source module and the light shaping module and the special-shaped problem of the support structure of the light source module and the support structure of the light shaping module are a key challenge in the existing laser technology. These problems lead to certain stresses and deformations in high and low temperature environments, which lead to an increase in the relative displacement between the light source and the optical module, and thus to a large variation in the optical index, which is particularly pronounced in the use requirements of some specific fields, such as the automotive lidar field.
In the field of automotive lidar, the performance and stability of the laser are critical to achieving high-precision target detection and tracking. However, since the vehicle operates in different environments, temperature variations are large, and CTE mismatch between the light source module and the light shaping module and the support structure profile problem pose challenges for stability and accuracy of the laser. Under high temperature conditions, CTE mismatch between the light source module and the light shaping module may lead to increased stress accumulation and deformation between the optical elements, thereby causing a change in optical index. In contrast, in a low temperature environment, the relative displacement between the light source module and the light shaping module may increase due to CTE mismatch, thereby affecting focusing performance and wavelength stability of the laser beam. These variations may result in detection ranges, resolutions, and accuracies of automotive lidar systems being affected by non-negligible amounts, making them inadequate for high-precision target detection and tracking.
For example, in the prior art, a laser light source is disposed at an edge of a PCB, that is, a light emitting direction of the light source is parallel to the PCB, an optical element is disposed at a light emitting side of the laser light source, and at high and low temperatures, due to deformation of the PCB, the light source generates displacement Δd with respect to an optical element (for example, fast axis collimation), and assuming that a focal length of the optical element is f, a pointing angle of a light spot in a fast axis direction will generate deflection of an angle θ, where a relational expression is shown in tan (θ) = Δd/f, so that an optical index of the whole laser module does not satisfy a practical requirement.
In addition, by adopting the structure, even though the laser light source and the optical piece are fixedly connected to the PCB in a bonding or bonding mode, the packaging mode has the problem of different thermal expansion coefficients of the bottom circuit board and/or the optical piece, and in the temperature cycle process, alternating stress can be generated to cause deformation of the circuit board and/or the optical piece, so that relative displacement and/or rotation between the chip and the optical component are caused, the reliability of the chip is reduced, the risk of cracking and separating of glue between the optical piece and the mechanical structure is caused, and in addition, the divergence angle or directivity of the whole optical module is not satisfied as a result of the relative displacement between the chip and the optical piece.
In order to solve the technical problems, the embodiment of the invention provides an optical module, which comprises a PCB, a light-emitting module and a light-shaping module, wherein the light-shaping module comprises a first light-shaping module, and laser rays emitted by the light-emitting module are shaped into light spots through the light-shaping module. The light-emitting module is directly arranged on the PCB, so that the light-shaping module and the light-emitting module are positioned on the same substrate, and the change of optical indexes caused by relative displacement between the light-emitting module and the light-shaping module at high and low temperatures is reduced. Compared with the prior art, the optical module has the advantages that the optical module is mounted on the edge of the PCB, and the optical shaping module is mounted on other structures, so that the stress of the optical shaping module and the optical source at high and low temperatures is reduced, the displacement generated during integral deformation is the same displacement, and smaller relative displacement is generated, so that the directivity and the divergence angle stability of the light-emitting module are ensured. Meanwhile, the PCB structure is more free to select, and the problem of CTE matching between the light-emitting modules and the installation of the structures required by the light-emitting modules is not needed to be considered because the PCB structure is not installed at the edge position of the PCB, so that the influence of the PCB structure on the structure of the light-emitting modules is reduced.
Referring to fig. 1, an optical module 10 according to an embodiment of the present invention is shown, where the optical module 10 includes a PCB board 11, a light emitting module 12, and a first light shaping module 13. The PCB 11 is made of insulating materials, conductive paths are printed on the surface of the PCB 11 and used for supporting and connecting electronic elements, the light-emitting module 12 is directly arranged on the PCB 11 and electrically connected with the conductive paths so as to receive current to be stimulated to generate laser, and the light-emitting module 12 is directly and fixedly electrically connected to the PCB 11, so that the conductive paths are reduced, and the electrical parasitism is effectively reduced.
The light emitting module 12 includes at least two substrate blocks 121 and at least one chip 122, the chip 122 is an edge emitting laser chip, the edge emitting laser chip has high power density and high pulse peak power, when the light emitting module includes a plurality of chips, an edge emitting laser stacked array can be formed, and the power of the light emitting module can be flexibly configured. In addition, by selecting the edge-emitting laser chip, the existing edge-emitting laser chip light shaping scheme can be reused, and the like products with the existing edge-emitting laser as a light source can be directly replaced. The substrate block 121 is directly fixed on the PCB 11 by welding or bonding, so that the substrate block 121 is firmly fixed on the PCB 11 by a simple process, the substrate block 121 and the chip 122 are fixedly electrically connected by welding or bonding with conductive adhesive or directly clamping, referring to fig. 1, the light emitting module 12 includes two substrate blocks 121 and one chip 122, the substrate block 121 is directly fixed on the PCB 11, and the substrate block 121 and the printed circuit board on the PCB are electrically connected by the above fixing method to supply power to the chip 122, so as to drive the chip 122 to emit light. The chip 122 and the substrate blocks 121 are arranged at intervals, the chip 122 is arranged between the two substrate blocks 121, meanwhile, the substrate blocks 121 are fixedly connected with the side faces of the chip 122, so that the upper two sides of the chip 122 are clamped and fixed by the two substrate blocks 121, the substrate blocks 121 are directly connected with a circuit on the PCB 11 to form a current path, and under the above configuration, the substrate blocks 121 arranged on the two sides of the chip 122 serve as the positive electrode and the negative electrode of the chip 122 to provide power connection for the chip 122. The substrate block 121 holds the chip 122 by clamping, so that the plane of the chip 122 forms an included angle with the plane of the PCB 11, it should be noted that the "included angle" herein refers to an included angle between the plane of the chip 122 and the plane of the PCB 11 of 0 ° -180 ° (excluding 0 ° -180 °), and it is understood that the purpose of the "the plane of the chip 122 forms an included angle with the plane of the PCB 11" is to make the light emitting direction of the chip 122 not parallel to the plane of the PCB 111, as shown by arrow P in fig. 1, and in the configuration of the optical module 10 shown in fig. 1, the light emitting direction of the light emitting module 12 forms an included angle of 90 ° with the plane of the PCB 11, and the chip 122 is held perpendicular to the plane of the PCB 111, so that the light emitting direction of the chip 122 is perpendicular to the plane of the PCB 111. The plane of the chip 122 is preferably perpendicular to the plane of the PCB, in this configuration, the degree of freedom of the PCB design can be expanded to the greatest extent, and the assembly of the light emitting module and the light shaping module is simpler, and in addition, the light emitted vertically is easier to regulate.
In order to solve the technical problem that the relative displacement between the light source and the optical module 10 is large, so that the divergence angle is greatly changed, all the light shaping modules and the light emitting modules 12 are arranged on the same substrate, namely, the light shaping modules and the light emitting modules 12 are arranged on the PCB 11, under the configuration, when the PCB 11 is deformed, the displacement of the light emitting modules 12 and the light shaping modules is the same-direction displacement, so that the relative displacement is reduced, and the stability of optical indexes is ensured. In another embodiment of the present invention, referring to fig. 8, the first light shaping module 13 is disposed on the light emitting path of the light emitting module 12, the first light shaping module 13 is disposed on the PCB board, in this configuration, the first light emitting module and the light emitting chip are not disposed on the same board plane, and when the PCB board is stressed or deformed, the above configuration can reduce the relative displacement between the light emitting module 12 and the first light shaping module 13, so as to ensure the stability of the directivity and divergence angle of the light emitting module 12. Further, when the PCB board is subjected to greater bending deformation, the light emitting module 12 is located at a more central position than the first light shaping module 13, so that a change in the relative position of the light emitting module 12 and the first light shaping module 13 may affect the stability of the divergence angle thereof. Referring to fig. 1, the first light shaping module 13 is disposed above the light emitting module 12, and is used for shaping the outgoing light of the light emitting module 12 to achieve light shaping, where the light shaping module may select lenses or other optical shaping elements with various configurations to focus the light onto a specific area or point. The configuration shown in fig. 1 further reduces the relative displacement between the first light shaping module 13 and the light emitting module 12 compared to the configuration shown in fig. 8, ensures alignment between the light source and the light shaping device, and also prevents the divergence angle of the light emitting module 12 from changing.
The first light shaping module 13 includes a first supporting structure 131 and a first lens 132, where the first supporting structure 131 is configured to support the first lens 132 above the light emitting module 12, so that the first lens 132 exits on a light exit path of the light emitting module, and the positions of the first lens 132 and a light exit surface of the light emitting module 12 are fixed, in which an outgoing light of the light emitting module 12 can completely pass through the first lens 132, and the first light shaping module 13 and the light emitting module 12 are symmetrical structures. In fig. 1, the first supporting structure 131 is fixed on two outermost substrate blocks 121 of the light emitting module 12, a first lens 132 fixed at a position opposite to the light emitting surface of the chip 122 is fixed on top of the first supporting structure 131, specifically, the first supporting structure 131 includes two first supporting members, the two first supporting members are directly fixed on the two outermost substrate blocks 121 of the light emitting module 12 in a non-conductive manner, and the two first supporting members and the two substrate blocks 121 are both symmetrical structures, so as to further avoid the influence of the deformation of the PCB 11 on the chip 122. The first light shaping module 13 is directly fixed to the light emitting module 12 through the first supporting structure 131, so that the relative displacement between the first lens 132 and the light emitting module 12 is zero, thereby reducing the relative displacement between the light emitting module 12 and the light shaping module, and fixing the relative positions thereof. In another embodiment of the present invention, the first light shaping module 13 includes only the first lens, and the first lens is directly fixed on the light emitting surface of the light emitting module 12 by means of bonding, so that the overall volume of the light shaping module is reduced, the volume of each element on the PCB board is simplified, the degree of freedom of the arrangement design of the PCB board can be enlarged, the mechanical gap can be reduced, and the fixing of the relative positions of the first lens and the chip is further ensured.
The optical module 10 further includes a second light shaping module 14, specifically referring to fig. 1, the first light shaping module 13 and the second light shaping module 14 are combined into a light shaping module, and the light shaping module is disposed above the light emitting module 12 and is used for shaping the outgoing light of the light emitting module 12 to implement light shaping, and the light shaping module can select lenses with various structures or other optical shaping elements to focus the light onto a specific area or point. After passing through the first light shaping module 13, the outgoing light moves in the shaped direction into the second light shaping module 14, where the second light shaping module 14 includes a second support structure 141 and a second lens 142, where the second support structure 141 includes two second supports, and the second lens 142 is used to shape all the light, where the two second supports are disposed on the outer side of the first light shaping module 13, where the "outer side" is opposite to the light emitting module 12 that is on the inner side of the two first supports. In the above configuration, the second support structure 141 spans over the light emitting module 12, so that the second lens 142 can cover all the light shaped by the first lens 132, and the second light shaping module 14 has the same configuration as the first light shaping module 13, and supports the lenses by the support structure.
The outgoing light first passes through the first lens 132 and then enters and passes through the second lens 142 to form a spot. The first lens 132 is fixed to the backing block 121 by the first support structure 131, so in the solution of the present invention, in order to further reduce the relative displacement between the light source and the optical shaping lens, an optical element with high optical sensitivity may be directly connected to the electrode, so as to further reduce the optical index variation caused by the relative displacement between the optical element and the light source. Ensuring the light shaping effect and quality of the element with high sensitivity, the first lens 132 is illustratively a fast axis collimating lens, the second lens 142 is illustratively a slow axis collimating lens, and the fast axis collimating lens has higher sensitivity to alignment with the light source than the slow axis collimating lens, and the fast axis collimating lens is disposed at the position of the first lens 132 to ensure that the collimating effect of the fast axis collimating lens is not affected.
Based on the above, fixing the first light shaping module 13 to the light emitting module 12 can further reduce the relative displacement between the first lens 132 and the light source, and based on this concept, referring to fig. 2, fixing the second light shaping module 14 to the first light shaping module 13 can further reduce the relative displacement of the overall light shaping module and the light source, thereby further improving the spot quality. The first supporting structure 131 includes two first supporting rods, the second supporting structure 141 includes two second supporting rods, the two first supporting rods are respectively fixed to two bottom blocks 121 at the outermost side of the light emitting module 12 by non-conductive means such as insulating materials or bonding, the two second supporting rods are respectively fixed to the two first supporting rods by bonding, and in the above configuration, the first lens 132 and the second lens 142 are respectively fixed at positions opposite to the light emitting surfaces of the chips 122 in the light emitting module 12.
In the optical module, the number of the light emitting modules is at least one, the light emitting modules are excited together to emit light rays so as to meet the requirements of different irradiation surfaces, the light spot size is improved, the light emitting modules can be modularized to form a plurality of light emitting modules, so that the designability and the simple expansibility of the optical module are improved, the plurality of light emitting modules can be independently controlled or integrally controlled on the PCB, and the flexible adjustment and expansion of the functions and the performances of the system are realized. Referring to fig. 3, an optical module 20 according to another embodiment of the present invention is shown, where the optical module 20 includes a PCB 21, three light emitting modules 22, three first light shaping modules 23, and a second light shaping module 24, and it should be noted that, in the present invention, the first light shaping modules 23 are used to directly shape the outgoing light of the light emitting modules 22, so that a separate first light shaping module 23, for example, a collimation process, is disposed on top of each separate light emitting module 22, and the second light shaping modules 24 are used to shape, for example, a homogenization process, the light modified by the first light shaping modules 23. Only the embodiments requiring two different shaping requirements are listed here, and it will be appreciated by a person skilled in the art that the light shaping module may be flexibly arranged for different optical system requirements.
In the present invention, the light emitting module includes at least two substrate blocks and at least one chip, and the power of the light emitting module can be increased by expanding the number of the substrate blocks and the chips in the light emitting module, referring to fig. 4, which shows an optical module 30 according to another embodiment of the present invention, the number of the substrate blocks 321 is 4, the number of the chips 322 is 3, and the substrate blocks 321 and the chips 322 are spaced apart such that both sides of each chip 322 are clamped by two substrate blocks 321. In this example, the number of first light shaping modules 33 for shaping the light emitted by the light emitting module is one.
In all the above optical modules, by directly fixing the light emitting module on the PCB board, and the light emitting direction thereof is not parallel to the plane of the PCB board, the light shaping module can reduce the optical index change caused by the relative displacement between the light emitting module and the light shaping module at high and low temperatures, and the PCB board can deform to generate stress at high and low temperatures, and the stress generated by the large CTE coefficient difference between the substrate block and the PCB board can cause the change of the light emitting angle of the light emitting module, therefore, the invention provides an optical module 40 of another embodiment, wherein the part of the PCB board 41 is provided with grooves, see fig. 5, the grooves are arranged at two sides of the light emitting module 42, and the grooves are arranged at the bottom of the grooves to help to release the stress, thereby reducing the deformation degree of the light emitting module 42, and the stress of the whole light shaping module and the mounting area of the light emitting module 42 and the PCB board 41 can be reduced at two sides of the light emitting module 42, thereby reducing the change of the optical index caused by deformation at high and low temperatures. Illustratively, the grooves may also be formed directly under the chip 422 to further reduce the influence of stress on the PCB 41 on the light-emitting angle of the chip 422, and the grooves may also be formed on both sides of the second support structure 441.
When the substrate block is fixed to the PCB board by means of bottom bonding, the requirement on the vertical plane of the substrate block is good in flatness and perpendicularity, and meanwhile, the substrate block and the PCB board are also mutually stressed, so that the substrate block is constructed to be inserted, referring to fig. 6, the optical module 50 of another embodiment of the present invention is shown, the substrate block 521 is inserted into the PCB board 51, and is welded and fixed by means of two-sided surfacing and/or bottom spot welding as shown by the arrow in the drawing, so that the requirement on the flatness and perpendicularity of the substrate block 521 is reduced, the operation process can be simplified by the welding process, mass production is easy, and the phenomenon that two substrate blocks 521 are shorted after welding is avoided. Preferably, soft solder is used to further reduce the stress between the backing block 521 and the PCB 51.
In another embodiment of the present invention, the substrate block is made of a multi-layered structure, and the substrate block is constructed of three layers of materials, see fig. 7. Preferably, the two outermost layers of the lining block are made of copper, the middle layer is made of molybdenum copper, the molybdenum copper has high electric conductivity and high thermal conductivity, the molybdenum copper is a pseudo alloy formed by two mutually-insoluble metal phases in a tissue, the molybdenum copper has the characteristics of both the constituent metals, and the molybdenum copper can complement each other to obtain good comprehensive performance. The outermost layer of the substrate block with the multilayer structure is a copper layer, transient heat of the chip can be effectively released on the copper layer, and compared with a copper-tungsten structure, the effect is better, so that the effect of reducing junction temperature and improving power can be achieved. In addition, the substrate block of the multilayer configuration has a CTE close to that of the chip, and thus does not generate cracks in bonding with the chip.
The technical schemes described in the embodiments of the present invention may be arbitrarily combined without any conflict.
The foregoing is merely illustrative of the present invention, and the present invention is not limited thereto, and any person skilled in the art will readily recognize that variations or substitutions are within the scope of the present invention. Therefore, the protection scope of the present invention shall be subject to the protection scope of the claims.