A high-brightness light guide plate with high precise double-sided microstructures fabricated using the fixed boundary hot embossing technique
Journal
Journal of Micromechanics and Microengineering
Journal Volume
23
Journal Issue
3
Pages
-
Date Issued
2013
Author(s)
Abstract
In recent years, microstructures have been widely applied in many key optical elements and bio-elements. The effective and efficient fabrication of optical elements and bio-elements with superior performance has become an essential challenge. This requires very accurate shape replication of microstructures. The plate-to-plate hot embossing process is the most likely method of mass production for the replication of double-sided micro/nano structures with high precision and quality. However, the traditional uniform heating hot embossing process as the free boundary of open die forging leads to variation. In this research, three techniques are implemented; the conventional uniform heating technique, the non-uniform pressure compensating technique and the fixed boundary hot embossing technique. The temperature distribution of the hot-plates of the fixed boundary hot embossing technique are designed to keep the temperature in the center part higher than the outer part on the surface of the substrates. This phenomenon changes free boundary in conventional uniform heating into fixed boundary. The results demonstrate the potential of the fixed boundary hot embossing technique for the fabrication of large-area high brightness LGPs with double-sided microstructures. The results are also helpful for enhancing the performance of optical elements and bio-elements fabricated using the fixed boundary hot embossing technique.
Type
journal article