Fabrication of polymer micro-lens array with pneumatically diaphragm-driven drop-on-demand inkjet technology

The paper reports an effective method to fabricate micro-lens arrays with the ultraviolet-curable polymer, using an original pneumatically diaphragm-driven drop-on-demand inkjet system. An array of plano convex micro-lenses can be formed on the glass substrate due to surface tension and hydrophobic...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inOptics express Vol. 20; no. 14; pp. 15186 - 15195
Main Authors Xie, Dan, Zhang, Honghai, Shu, Xiayun, Xiao, Junfeng
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published United States 02.07.2012
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Summary:The paper reports an effective method to fabricate micro-lens arrays with the ultraviolet-curable polymer, using an original pneumatically diaphragm-driven drop-on-demand inkjet system. An array of plano convex micro-lenses can be formed on the glass substrate due to surface tension and hydrophobic effect. The micro-lens arrays have uniform focusing function, smooth and real planar surface. The fabrication process showed good repeatability as well, fifty micro-lenses randomly selected form 9 × 9 miro-lens array with an average diameter of 333.28μm showed 1.1% variations. Also, the focal length, the surface roughness and optical property of the fabricated micro-lenses are measured, analyzed and proved satisfactory. The technique shows great potential for fabricating polymer micro-lens arrays with high flexibility, simple technological process and low production cost.
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ISSN:1094-4087
1094-4087
DOI:10.1364/OE.20.015186