Microplastic lens array fabricated by a hot intrusion process

A microplastic lens array has been successfully constructed on top of a 500-μm-thick PC (Polycarbonate film) by using a micro hot intrusion process. A single-layer LIGA process is used to fabricate the high-aspect-ratio nickel mold insert that has circular hole patterns of 80 μm in diameter and 200 μm in depth. Under the hot intrusion process, plastic material can be intruded into these circular-shape holes and stopped at desired depth under elevated temperature and pressure to fabricate microlenses. By adjusting the embossing load, temperature and time, the curvature and height of the lens are controllable when the same mold insert is used. The optical properties of these microlenses have been characterized and the average radius of curvature is found as 41.4 μm with a standard deviation of 1.05 μm. Experimental characterization and theoretical model are conducted and developed for the micro-intrusion process in terms of the radius of curvature and height of the lenses and they correspond well with experimental data within 5% of variations. The focusing capability of the lenses is demonstrated by comparing the images of laser light with and without using the lenses. When the projection screen is placed 200 μm away from the lens, the full-width at half-maximum (FWHM) for the lens is 110 μm while the original FWHM of the optical fiber is 300 μm.