Fabrication of high fill factor cylindrical microlens array with isolated thermal reflow

Qiu, Jinfeng; Li, Mujun; Ye, Huichun; Yang, Chen; Shi, Cuicui

doi:10.1364/ao.57.007296

Cited by 22 publications

(12 citation statements)

References 27 publications

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“…Qiu et al prepared a high fill factor cylindrical MLA by PDMS-assisted thermal reflow method. [85] During the reflow process, PDMS was used to solve the problems of diameter changes and conglutination of neighboring microlenses. Kirner et al fabricated uniform large-area MLA on the surface of fused silica glass by combination of molten resist reflow and reactive ion etching.…”

Section: Photoresist Thermal-reflow Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Bioinspired Artificial Compound Eyes: Characteristic, Fabrication, and Application

Yang

Bian

et al. 2021

Adv Materials Technologies

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the visual nerve perception. This type of eyes has ultrahigh resolution, which can get clear image information. Inspired by this imaging system, people have put significant efforts over a long time for development of camera-related optical system for various applications, such as endoscope, digital camera, smartphones, robot eyes, visual implants. [7][8][9][10] Because of the rapid progress in micro/nano technologies, the artificial eyes structures can achieve extremely high resolution that is close to or even exceeding the human eye. However, the low field of view (FOV) (the maximum value is only 90°) hinders its wider applications. To solve this problem, multiple cameras need to be put together to work, which not only increases the cost, but also makes the entire optical system cumbersome. Hence, an optical device with portable, integrated, and large FOV features is highly desired.Different from the single-lens eyes, the insect eyes adopt another visual system. Figure 1b shows a honeybee's apposition compound eye, which has thousands of ommatidia arranged on a curved surface so that each ommatidium points in different directions. [11] Each unit consists of a lens, a crystalline cone, and a rhabdom. The focused light signal is transmitted to the photosensitive area by the crystalline cone, and then visual perception is generated after passing through the rhabdom. Each of the ommatidium can image which enables the insects to obtain sufficient information in a complex environment and exhibits the characteristics of large FOV, low aberration, and high sensitivity to moving objects. [12] In addition to the honeybee's compound eyes, the eyes of other insects in nature, such as mosquito eye, [13] fly's eye, [14] moth's eye, [15] and dragonfly's eye [16] also have similar structure and have attracted much attention due to the deep research on bionics. [4,9,12,[17][18][19][20][21] The characteristics of the compound eyes in nature and the advanced micro/nano-processing technologies provide great technical support and inspiration for the researchers to prepare artificial compound eyes (ACEs) with close-packed microlens arrays (MLAs) as optical imaging elements. [22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30] Such MLAs compose of microscale lenses with the same surface feature and the regular arrangements are important microoptical components. The great light field (LF) regulation and focusing abilities of MLAs have made it essentially in various applications such as imaging, [31][32][33][34][35][36][37][38][39] dynamic target capture, [40][41][42] beaming homogenizing, [43][44][45][46] sensing, [47][48][49] light extractionThe natural compound eyes provide great inspiration for design of advanced imaging devices. Artificial compound eyes (ACEs) with close-packed microlens arrays (MLAs) have attracted enormous research interests due to their remarkable advantages in modern micro-optical systems, such as miniaturization, high integration, tunable focal length, large field of view, and moving objects tracking. Over a decade of intens...

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Section: Photoresist Thermal-reflow Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Bioinspired Artificial Compound Eyes: Characteristic, Fabrication, and Application

Yang

Bian

et al. 2021

Adv Materials Technologies

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“…Although the femtosecond laser direct writing method has higher processing accuracy, it is not suitable for large area preparation due to its low efficiency. A process different from the traditional thermal reflow method realizes the large‐area preparation of cylindrical microlenses through digital micro‐mirror lithography and PDMS solution isolation thermal reflow (Qiu, Li, Ye, Yang, & Shi, 2018). Cylindrical microlenses can transform the light intensity from Gaussian distribution to uniform distribution, and have excellent focusing ability (Chen et al, 2008; Gorecki et al, 2006; Hsieh, Weng, Yin, Lin, & Chou, 2005).…”

Section: Microlenses Fabricating Techniquesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Microlenses arrays: Fabrication, materials, and applications

Cai

Sun

Chu

et al. 2021

Microscopy Res & Technique

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Microlenses have become an indispensable optical element in many optical systems. The advancement of technology has led to a wider variety of microlenses fabrication methods, but these methods suffer from, more or less, some limitations. In this article, we review the manufacturing technology of microlenses from the direct and indirect perspectives. First, we present several fabrication methods and their advantages and disadvantages are discussed. Then, we discuss the commonly used materials for fabricating microlenses and the applications of microlenses in various fields. Finally, we point out the prospects for the future development of microlenses and their fabrication methods.

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“…For CML with aspheric or asymmetric shapes, several fabrication strategies have been developed. Some are based on the surface tension effect to forming a cylindrical surface, such as isolated thermal reflow, [16,17] thermal expansion, [18] ultraviolet curing, [19] electric-field-driven jet printing, [20,21] and extrusion printing. [22] However, the target materials for these methods are limited to polymers.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Fabrication of Cylindrical Microlens by Femtosecond Laser‐Assisted Hydrofluoric Acid Wet Etching of Fused Silica

Cao

Chen

et al. 2022

Advanced Photonics Research

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Micro‐optical elements play a key role in various advanced devices, including biomedical, photovoltaic, 3D display, and optical communication devices. As one of the typical micro‐optical elements, cylindrical microlens (CML) can modulate the wavefront phase of the incident light in only one direction. The process methods of CML have been developed and various methods are proposed for CML fabrication. For the simple and versatile fabrication of CML on hard brittle materials, femtosecond laser direct writing combined with hydrofluoric acid (HF) wet etching for removal of laser‐modified regions in fused silica is proposed here for high‐quality CML fabrication. A high‐accuracy CML can be processed by adjusting the HF etching time, femtosecond laser pulse energy, and the position of the laser exposure point. Crossed‐shaped CML can be realized by accurate control of the single laser pulse exposure positions at the intersection in two directions. A series of alphabet‐shaped CML, showing this fabrication method's flexibility is made. The characterization of the CML under a microscope system reveals a good optical focusing ability. The proposed method offers a practical route toward the manufacture of CML on hard brittle materials.

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Fabrication of high fill factor cylindrical microlens array with isolated thermal reflow

Cited by 22 publications

References 27 publications

Bioinspired Artificial Compound Eyes: Characteristic, Fabrication, and Application

Bioinspired Artificial Compound Eyes: Characteristic, Fabrication, and Application

Microlenses arrays: Fabrication, materials, and applications

Fabrication of Cylindrical Microlens by Femtosecond Laser‐Assisted Hydrofluoric Acid Wet Etching of Fused Silica

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