The role of electrostatic charge effect on the contamination of fiber optics connectors and the ways of eliminating it

The contamination of fiber optics connectors has recently been recognized as an industry wide problem. The contamination has resulted in degradation of optical signal performance, which creates false fails during the manufacturing process. These contaminated fiber optics connectors require additional manufacturing operations such as inspection of incoming components, cleaning process and re-inspection. The cleanliness of test connectors is also very important to ensure good product quality. The dirty connectors in the test environment create false functional failures at the board level, resulting in unnecessary and costly rework. All precautions have to be taken to identify the critical steps in the manufacturing process that cause the contamination to the component, assembly or board levels. The potential sources of contamination and the mechanisms of the transferring contamination have been analyzed.