A roller embossing process for rapid fabrication of microlens arrays on glass substrates
Resource
MICROSYSTEM TECHNOLOGIES-MICRO-AND NANOSYSTEMS-INFORMATION STORAGE AND PROCESSING SYSTEMS,12(8),754-759.
Journal
Microsystem Technologies - Micro- and Nanosystems. Information Storage and Processing Systems
Journal Volume
12
Journal Issue
8
Pages
754-759
Date Issued
2006
Date
2006
Author(s)
Weng, Yung Chun
Abstract
This paper reports an innovative technique for rapid fabrication of polymeric microlens arrays based on UV roller embossing process. In this method, a thin flat mold is fabricated by electroforming of nickel against a microlens master. The thin Ni mold with microlens cavities is then wrapped onto cylinder to form the roller. During rolling operation, the roller pressing and dragging the UV-curable photopolymer layer on the glass substrate through the rolling zone, the microlens array is formed. At the same time, the microlens array is cured by the UV light radiation while traveling through the rolling zone. The technique can be developed to an effective roll-to-roll process at room temperature and with low pressure. In this study, a roller embossing facility with UV exposure capacity has been designed, constructed and tested. Under the proper processing conditions, the 100×100 arrays of polymeric microlens, with a diameter of 100 μm, a pitch of 200 μm and a sag height of 21 μm can be successfully fabricated.
Subjects
Hot embossing; Microlens array; Replication; Roller embossing; Ultraviolet embossing
Other Subjects
Arrays; Electroforming; Glass; Nickel; Rollers (machine components); Substrates; Ultraviolet radiation; Hot embossing; Microlens array; Replication; Roller embossing; Ultraviolet embossing; Hot pressing
Type
journal article