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TO Caps

TO Caps


A Transistor Outline (TO) is the name of an international industrial standard that governs a particular type of current-conducting electronic housing. A TO package always consists of two components: a header and a cap. In opto-electronics, the caps fulfill two primary functions. First, they reliably and permanently protect the optical components of transmission as well as reception applications. Second, they ensure the transmission of the optical signals by acting as an optical interface. The optical properties of the windows or lenses installed into the caps must therefore fulfill extremely high requirements.

In general, one can distinguish between two different types of caps:
  • Molded caps: Metal and glass are fused without the use of any other material. This type of cap is suitable for all conventional types of optical signal transmission.
  • Soldered caps: Metal and glass are fused with the aid of a solder glass. This type of cap is suitable for precision applications with special optical components.
Both types of caps can be manufactured for all standard TO designs. The following table lists some of the most common designs and their associated header designs.

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The headers and caps are welded together to form a TO housing. During this process, the oxygen inside the encapsulated spaces is removed to increase protection against corrosion. Please refer to our Technology section for more information about this process.

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