Microelectronics Reliability 44 (2004) 823–831

www.elsevier.com/locate/microrel

Investigation on bondability and reliability of

UV-curable adhesive joints for stable mechanical properties
in photonic device packaging
a,b a,*
C.W. Tan , Y.C. Chan , H.P. Chan a, N.W. Leung b, C.K. So b

a
Department of Electronic Engineering, City University of Hong Kong, 83, Tat Chee Avenue, Kowloon, Hong Kong
b
Photonic Manufacturing Service Ltd., Suites 2207-11, 22/F, Tower 1, The Gateway, 25 Canton Road, TST, Kowloon, Hong Kong
Received 19 June 2003; received in revised form 1 October 2003

Abstract
The demand for volume deployment of photonic components has increased, and with it the need to effectively
manufacture in a reproducible and cost effective way. Therefore, it is important to keep the assembly process consistent
and stable. A simple shear test setup was used in this study to determine the shear force that can be used as an instant
indicator to the process stability of fiber arrays assembly. The shear test was then used to study the effect of curing
conditions, surface roughness, and reliability test on the adhesion of the adhesive joints of single channel fiber arrays. In
general, shear force increases with the curing conditions. However, thermal-induced residue stress during improper
controlled curing process might lead to loss in ductility and reliability of the joints. Results showed that rough bonding
surface for the coverlid can provide better wettability and enhances the shear strength. However, it might result in
incomplete polymerization due to transmission loss of UV radiation during assembly process that was caused by the
uneven surface. Furthermore, rough surface can affect the flow of adhesive that could result in incomplete-fills. Adhesives
at the surrounding of V-grooves and edges of the joints were attacked by moisture at elevated temperature. This paper
also discussed in details the possible failure mechanism of adhesive joints after temperature and humidity test.
Ó 2003 Published by Elsevier Ltd.

1. Introduction more advantages in terms of mass production though

The packaging of photonic components represents
unique requirements and challenges. The major chal-
lenge that is uniquely associated with photonic packag-
ing relates to the extremely tight assembly tolerance. In
order to achieve and maintain alignment, it is impor-
tant to pay special attention to the bond joints and
joining techniques. Soldering, laser welding and adhe-
sive bonding are the three most popular joining tech-
niques in photonic packaging. Compensation offset can
minimize or eliminate bond shift. Epoxies lend them-
selves to shrinkage compensation, design flexibility and
*
Corresponding author. Tel.: +852-2788-7130; fax: +852-
2788-7579.
E-mail address: eeycchan@cityu.edu.hk (Y.C. Chan).
0026-2714/$ - see front matter Ó 2003 Published by Elsevier Ltd.
doi:10.1016/j.microrel.2003.10.003
they are typically not reworkable [1,2].
Epoxies have been used widely as adhesives, coatings,
underfills and encapsulants in the production of elec-
tronic and optoelectronics devices. Epoxy adhesives are
used because of their fluidity in uncured stage, which
allows them to flow easily into complex shapes, but once
fully cured the highly cross-linked three-dimensional
networks have superior adhesive and thermo-mechanical
properties [3,4]. The resulting networks permanently affix
the components; and the intractability of these materials
is desirable from a reliability aspect. Because of their
epoxide, hydroxyl, amine and other polar groups, the
epoxies have high specific adhesion to glass substrate.
Epoxies cure with only a fraction of the shrinkage of
vinyl type adhesives. Also, the epoxies do not pull away
from glass fibers.
Many photonic devices go into underground
or undersea optical network, so device reliability is
824 C.W. Tan et al. / Microelectronics Reliability 44 (2004) 823–831

Table 1
Curing conditions used in this experiment
Run Condition Power Time (s)
(mW/cm2 )
1 UV post-cure 1700 60
2 UV-85 °C 1700 60
3 UV 2000 60
4 UV 2000 30
5 UV 1700 60
6 UV 1700 30
7 UV 1700 15
8 UV 1500 60
Fig. 1. Cross-sectional view of a single channel fiber array. 9 UV 1500 30
10 UV 1000 60
11 UV 1000 30
paramount. In order to optimize their uses, it is neces-
sary to understand their behavior when exposed to cli-
matic and environmental aggressions. In particular, this surface, and surfaces induced by sand papers of 400 and
study reports on the mechanical stability of adhesive 600 grit sizes. Scan length of 500 lm with scan speed of
joint in fiber array. V-grooves on the fiber block are to 50 lm/s and stylus force of 66.8 mg was used in this
provide pitch alignment of multiple optical fiber and experiment.
epoxy adhesive is hereof used to form joining between
coverlid and fiber block in order to fix optical fiber in 2.3. Reliability test
position. Based on the three-point contact principal as
shown in Fig. 1, misalignment due to curing shrinkage The single channel fiber arrays that were prepared
can be ruled out. using curing condition 2 in Table 1 were subjected to a
This paper reports the performances, i.e., bondability temperature and humidity test, i.e., 85 °C and 85% RH
and reliability of epoxy adhesive joints. The effects of for 0, 25, 50, 75, 100, 125, and 150 h respectively.
curing condition and surface roughness to adhesion Chemical and structural changes of the cured and aged
strength and mechanical properties of epoxy joints were adhesive specimens were identified by comparing their
also reported. IR spectra obtained by Fourier transform infrared
spectroscopy (FT-IR). Perkin–Elmer Spectrum ONE
FT-IR spectrometer equipped with an attenuated total
2. Experimental procedures reflectance (ATR) of 4 cm
1 resolution was utilized to
assemble the spectra range from 4000 to 650 cm
1 of the
Fiber blocks with single channel V-groove and its samples. In quantitative analysis, relative absorbance
coverlids were prepared using Toshiba USM-20A Slic- intensities of the molecular bonds and groups were
ing machine. Epoxy-based UV-curable adhesive was determined. The corresponding relative intensities of the
used to affix the single channel optical fiber in between cured samples and the aged samples were compared. The
fiber block and coverlid. This model was selected be- base line method was used to calculate the absorbance
cause it represents most of the construction of adhesive intensities of different groups and molecules. The rela-
joint in optical devices, especially passive devices. tive absorbance intensities of any two peaks were cal-
culated as the ratio of their intensities. The relative
2.1. Curing conditions intensity, Er between the reactive peak, Ereactive and ref-
erence peak, Eref would be calculated using the following
The curing process of this adhesive consists of a rapid equation [5]:
polymerization initiated by UV-reactive photo-initiators Ereactive
and two stages of slow thermal polymerization, i.e., 85 Er ¼ : ð1Þ
Eref
°C for 2 h and followed by 60 °C for 10 h. These samples
were prepared by using various curing conditions, as The 1437 cm
1 band which is due to CH2 deformation
shown in Table 1. vibration was used as the internal reference peak.

2.2. Surface roughness, Ra, induced by different grit size 2.4. Shear test

Alpha-Step Profiler Model 500 was used to determine The lid shear test was carried out by using an IN-
the surface roughness, Ra, of the glossy surface, abrasive STRON Mini 44 Tester with a cross-head speed of 5
 C.W. Tan et al. / Microelectronics Reliability 44 (2004) 823–831
mm/min on 20 samples [6]. The shear blade was placed
approximately 0.5 mm from the top surface of fiber
block. The shear blade was moving in the X -direction of
the cross-sectional view of Fig. 1. Micro-structural
analyses of the fractured surface of sheared-samples
were then obtained by using a Philips XL 40 FEG
scanning electron microscope (SEM).
3. Results and discussion
3.1. Shear force
As the manufacturing of photonic device revolves
into mass production mode, the consistency of the
assembly process is becoming relatively important.
Therefore, a reliable in situ monitor system is required in
addition to an on-line visual inspection. The purpose of
this shear test set-up is to provide immediate indication
to line-personnel whether the process and/or the process
parameters are operating within specifications. By
referring to six-sigma standard, upper control limit
(UCL) and lower control limit (LCL) have been deter-
mined instead of only an average value, as shown in Fig.
2. The UCL was determined to be 126.9 N and LCL was
35.8 N in which an average value of 81.4 N falls within
this range. These values can be used as the process
control of the assembly process. Fig. 2 also shows the
distribution of the shear force of 20 samples.
Failure modes of sheared samples are remarkably as
important as the shear force value. When the adhesive is
properly cured, the cohesive strength within the glue line
is great, and adhesion of the epoxy to other materials
should be so good, that failure under stress condition
should often occur in one of the adherents rather than in
140
UCL
120
100
Shear force, N
80
Average
60
40 LCL
20
0
0 5 10 15 20
Sample
Fig. 2. Shear force obtained from 20 samples that were
assembled at the optimized curing conditions.
825
Adhesive
Cover lid 1
2
3
Jacket Fiber optic 4
5
Fiber block
Fig. 3. A cross-sectional view of the fiber array showing the
possible failure modes in location 1––break at coverlid, location
2––break at adhesive/coverlid interface, location 3––cohesive
failure, location 4––break at adhesive/fiber block interface and
location 5––break at fiber block.
the epoxy or at the interface. There are five potentially
observed failure modes in this experiment as listed below
and shown in Fig. 3:
1. break at coverlid,
2. break at adhesive/coverlid interface which is a adhe-
sive failure,
3. break at adhesive layer which is a cohesive failure,
4. break at adhesive/fiber block interface which is an-
other adhesive failure and,
5. break at fiber block.
As a result, all of these 20 samples have demonstrated
the failure mode of number 2. Obviously, this bonding
interface between adhesive and coverlid is the weakest
among the five interfaces mentioned above.
When these fracture surfaces were subjected to SEM
examination, it was found that the optical fiber was still
sitting in the V-groove and being covered by adhesive on
top of it. This observation can be clearly seen in Fig. 4a
and b. There were adhesive stains and small quantity of
adhesive remnants, mostly around the location of fiber
optic and V-groove were remaining on the coverlid, as
shown in Fig. 4c. These observations clearly showed that
this joining was fractured at the adhesive/coverlid
interface after shear test.
3.2. Curing process
The degree of polymerization of adhesive strongly
depends on the curing conditions and parameters as
tabulated in Table 1. Fiber arrays were assembled using
these curing conditions and followed by shear test. Fig. 5
shows the required shear force-to-fracture of these
adhesive joints that were assembled using the conditions
in Table 1. Generally, the higher the UV radiation
power, the higher the shear force obtained. The longer
dwell time also contributes to a higher resistance to an
external shear mechanism. There are more adhesives
observed on the coverlid after the shear test for samples
that were cured at a lower curing degree. The failure
mode has shifted to a cohesion failure from an adhesive
826 C.W. Tan et al. / Microelectronics Reliability 44 (2004) 823–831

Fig. 4. SEM micrograph show the fracture surface at (a) top view at the fiber block, (b) enlarged view of (a), and (c) at coverlid.

90

80

70
Shear force, N

60

50

40

30
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
Run
Fig. 6. Shear force-vs.-displacement curves with the fracto-
Fig. 5. Shear force strength obtained from samples assembled
graph of samples prepared under different curing conditions.
under various curing conditions.

failure with increasing degree of cure. This indicates that
lower the curing degree, the less adhesive has been
solidified that result in lower resistance to the force in
shear direction. Since the curing condition of run 3 did
not increase the shear force significantly compared to
condition of run 6, the latter was chosen as the opti-
mized parameters for the rest of this study.
The effects of post-cure and heat treatment on top of
the photo-initiation of UV radiation have significantly
increased the shear force of fiber arrays. Fig. 6 compares
the three curing conditions, i.e., UV curing only, UV
curing plus curing temperature of 85 °C, and UV plus
post-cure at lower temperature for longer time frame.
The shear force-vs.-displacement curve of samples that
did undergo UV curing only shows that the plastic
deformation has taken place before the breaking point.
A relatively long displacement, approximately 0.7 mm
was observed before the adhesive joints reached the
breaking point. In the attached SEM micrograph, it is
clearly shown that the fracture surface is relatively
 C.W. Tan et al. / Microelectronics Reliability 44 (2004) 823–831 827

rough, more plastic deformations and dimples are visi- sandpaper with grit size of 600, 400, and the abrasive
ble, thus they are less brittle compared to the joints with surface processed by vendor.
the other two curing conditions. Fig. 8 shows that rougher surface can provide
For samples that were exposed to UV radiation and stronger interfacial bonding to the adhesive, thus a
85 °C of heat curing, the shear force-vs.-displacement higher shear force is required to remove the coverlids
curve is much sharper. Though it broke at higher shear from the fiber arrays. Rough surface undoubtedly con-
force if compared to samples cured only with UV, tributed to a better adhesion force. However, rougher
shorter displacement was observed. It was observed that bonding surfaces of the coverlids will lead to uneven
the fracture surfaces of these samples were extremely surfaces of the adhesive, as shown in Fig 9. This rough
brittle. This reveals that the adhesive joints produced
under this condition might have suffered from a certain
240
extent of stresses such as thermal expansion stress, shear force 3500
220
shrinkage stress, and other forms of residual stress due surface roughness
200 3000
to non-uniform polymerization.
180
Among all samples the post-cured ones provide the 2500

Shear force, N

Ra, angstrom
160
smoothest curve and highest shear force. In addition, the 140
2000
fracture surface showed a less brittle surface with very 120
little plastic deformation. This indicates that the post- 100 1500
curing condition might have removed the residual stress 80
at the joints induced by the exposure to 85 °C during 1000
60
first stage of post-curing. Therefore, in order to get the 40
500
strongest and most reliable adhesive joints out of this 20
curing process, the condition with post-curing at lower 0 0

ABRASIVE SURFACE

SD 400

SD 600
temperature with longer time if favorable. Glossy SURFACE

3.3. Surface roughness

Four types of coverlid bonding surfaces were exam-

ined by using SEM as shown in Fig. 7. The smoothest is Fig. 8. Roughness of surfaces that were produced by different
the glossy surface, followed by surface produced by lapping processes.

Fig. 7. SEM micrographs of surfaces with various surface roughness (a) glossy surface, (b) abrasive surface, (c) by SD 600, and (d) by
SD 400.
828 C.W. Tan et al. / Microelectronics Reliability 44 (2004) 823–831

3.4. Reliability test

The effect of the temperature and humidity test, i.e.,

Fig. 9. SEM micrograph of top surface of fiber block after
shear test. The rough morphology of adhesive is caused by the
abrasive bonding surface of coverlid.
surface will affect the effectiveness of UV radiation
transmission and result in an inconsistent curing degree
which might affect the local core pitch. In Fig. 9, some
adhesive remained on surrounding of the exposed fiber
optic which are suspected as the uncured portion of
adhesive. In addition, 40% of the failure mode is cohe-
sion failure and greater amount of the remnants on the
bonding surface of coverlids was observed.
Fig. 9 also shows that the gap at the surrounding of
the top contact point of the optic fiber and the cover is
not perfectly filled as observed at the polished bonding
surface of the coverlid. It has been reported by Wake [7]
85 °C and 85% RH, is obvious where the shear force of
fiber arrays degrades from 81.4 N before the test to
approximately 15.2 N after 150 h of testing, as shown in
Fig. 10. The shear forces of samples that were exposed to
the reliability test for 50 , 75 and 100 h have marginally
exceeded the LCL limit that was determined in the first
part of this paper. However, it is obvious that samples
after an exposition of 125 and more hours to the test
condition were relatively weak.
Table 2 shows that the relative absorbance intensity
of the hydroxyl group is in increasing trend with the test
time increases. A diminutive decrease in the ester char-
acteristic peak was observed at 1730 and 1180 cm
1 , as
shown in Fig. 11. A slight increase in the hydroxyl group
at 3450 cm
1 and in the carboxylic group at 1058 cm
1 ,
and a corresponding drop in the ester peak at 1730 and
1180 cm
1 support the idea of hydrolysis [3,8–10] in the
sample which was exposed to the humidity test. There-
fore, the degradation in adhesion strength that we have
observed in Fig. 10 is probably not due to the chemical
90
80
70
60
Shear force, N

that rough surface can affect the spread of adhesive ei-

ther because the adhesive cannot penetrate into the pits 50
or because it penetrates too slow and sets before it
40
completes the penetration. These observations might
result in misalignment and coupling efficiency loss of the 30
fiber optic assembly.
The abrasive surface is not the preference in mass 20
production of fiber arrays because of difficulties found in
10
maintaining its cleanliness and an extra grinding or
lapping process is required. Thus, additional cost would -20 0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160
be caused. Therefore, a rougher bonding surface of the Test time, hour
coverlid should be avoided, especially in mass produc-
tion since the polished surface is able to provide sufficient Fig. 10. Shear force-vs.-temperature humidity test time curve.
adhesion strength. In order to improve and further en-
hance the adhesion strength of the cut edges of the cov-
erlid with the adhesive at the fillet, one may produce Table 2
coverlids’ cut edges with moderate roughness. This can Relative absorbance intensity of hydroxyl at different reliability
test time
be achieved by choosing a blade with right grit size for
dicing and flat-grooving. Though it provides relatively Test time (h) Relative absorbance intensity of hydroxyl
good shear adhesion, a blade with a grit size of 400 will 0 9.716
cause undesired chipping along the edges, especially on 25 9.875
quartz substrates. Therefore, a dicing blade with a grit 50 9.962
size of 600 was selected for the dicing process. The similar 75 10.497
design was applied to the surface finishing of a flat- 100 10.494
125 10.708
groove that forms adhesion with the adhesive fillet, too.
 C.W. Tan et al. / Microelectronics Reliability 44 (2004) 823–831 829

Fig. 11. Characteristic bands of ester (a) (mðCAOÞ  1180 cm
1 ) and (b) (mðC@OÞ  1730 cm
1 ).

Fig. 12. SEM micrographs of the top surface of fiber block after shear test for samples that have underwent temperature and humidity
test for (a) 0 h, (b) 50 h, (c) 100 h, and (d) 125 h.
830 C.W. Tan et al. / Microelectronics Reliability 44 (2004) 823–831
Fig. 13. SEM micrographs of bonding surfaces of coverlids after shear test for samples that have underwent temperature and humidity
test for (a) 0 h, (b) 50 h, and (c) 125 h.
structure degradation of the bulk adhesive. Con-
versely, it should be due to the degradation of the
adhesion strength at the interface within coverlid and
adhesive.
Fig. 12 shows the hydrolysis marks (craters) at the
surrounding of the exposed optical fiber. It begins with
bubble-like vacant; then these vacant were connected and
spread slowly. In Fig. 13 the moisture penetration path
can clearly be seen which begins from the V-groove, i.e.,
location of the optical fiber and the edges of the bonding.
The dark areas are the plasticizing mark of the adhesive.
It has been well known that the bonding interface has
the lowest surface energy if compared to the bulk mate-
rials. It is believed that moisture was penetrating via
the bonding interface which lead to degradation of the
adhesion strength at the bonding interface. In view of
the fact that the adhesive/fiber block interface has been
strengthened by the fiber optic that was clamped firmly
by V-groove and the cured adhesive, the coverlid/adhe-
sive interface remains as the weakest point at this con-
struction. Selectively, this layer will consistently be
observed as the failure mode, unless there is inconsis-
tency in this process or in the experimental setup.
4. Conclusions
A simple shear test experimental setup was used to
study the effect of curing conditions (thermal history),
surface roughness and reliability test on the adhesion
strength of the adhesive joint in fiber arrays. Based on
the experimental results and observations obtained in
this study, it can be concluded as below:
(a) A shear test was setup and the shear force can be
used as internal process control to provide immediate
indication of the process stability. The mean is approx-
imately 81.4 N, while the upper control limit is about
126.9 N and the lower control limit is about 35.8 N.
Only one failure mode was observed, a break at an
adhesive/coverlid interface.
(b) Generally, the shear force increases with the cur-
ing degree. Extreme curing condition, i.e., elevated
temperature and short dwell time at post-curing, caused
the adhesive joints losing their ductility. They became
more brittle and relatively unreliable.
(c) The surface roughness, Ra, has strongly enhanced
the strength of the adhesive joints. However, in the
meantime it was affecting the curing uniformity and
spread of adhesive that have huge impact to the coupling
efficiency. In addition, rough surface will cause flow
difficulty, thus affecting the fill up efficiency of adhesive.
So, rough surface or uneven surface should be avoided
in adhesive joints.
(d) The strength of the adhesive joint can be further
enhanced by using a coverlid with a rougher cutting edge
and a rougher flat-groove of the fiber block which can
form a stronger adhesion to the adhesive fillet.
(e) Temperature and humidity tests have apparently
degraded the adhesion strength due to moisture
absorption, and FTIR results suggested that the joint
has experienced hydrolytic attacks when an increase in
carboxylic and hydroxyl group but a corresponding
decrease in ester peaks was observed. The V-groove/
 C.W. Tan et al. / Microelectronics Reliability 44 (2004) 823–831
adhesive interface was found to be one of the favorite
moisture penetration paths apart from the edges that
result in hydrolysis attack to the adhesive at the sur-
rounding of optical fiber. Hence, up to a certain extent it
will loosen the fastening mechanism and potentially lead
to coupling efficiency loss.
Acknowledgements
The authors would like to acknowledge the grant
from the Government of the Hong Kong Special
Administrative Region––Innovation and Technology
Fund (ITF), University–Industry Collaboration Pro-
gram (Project no. UIT/033, and CityU ref. 9440025).
Thanks to Ms. Tan Sai Choo, Mr. Jack Wang and Mr.
Sean Peng for their technical supports.
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