Surface tension-induced high aspect-ratio PDMS micropillars with concave and convex lens tips

Author

Huawei Li ; Yiqiang Fan ; Ying Yi ; Foulds, I.G.

Author_Institution

Comput., Electr. & Math. Sci. & Eng. Div. (CEMSE), King Abdullah Univ. of Sci. & Technol. (KAUST), Thuwal, Saudi Arabia

fYear

2013

fDate

7-10 April 2013

Firstpage

187

Lastpage

190

Abstract

This paper reports a novel method for the fabrication of 3-dimensional (3D) Polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) micropillars with concave and convex lens tips in a one-step molding process, using a CO₂ laser-machined Poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) mold with through holes. The PDMS micropillars are 4 mm high and have an aspect ratio of 25:1. The micropillars are formed by capillary force drawing up PDMS into the through hole mold. The concave and convex lens tips of the PDMS cylindrical micropillars are induced by surface tension and are controllable by changing the surface wetting properties of the through holes in the PMMA mold. This technique eliminates the requirements of expensive and complicated facilities to prepare a 3D mold, and it provides a simple and rapid method to fabricate 3D PDMS micropillars with controllable dimensions and tip shapes.

Keywords

capillarity; laser beam machining; microlenses; moulding; optical fabrication; optical polymers; surface tension; wetting; 3-dimensional polydimethylsiloxane micropillars; 3D mold; PMMA mold; capillary force; concave lens tips; controllable dimensions; convex lens tips; hole mold; laser-machined poly(methyl methacrylate) mold; one-step molding; size 4 mm; surface tension-induced high aspect-ratio 3D PDMS micropillars; surface wetting; tip shapes; Fabrication; Lenses; Microoptics; Shape; Surface emitting lasers; Surface tension; Surface treatment; PDMS; concave and convexlens; micropillars; surface tension;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Nano/Micro Engineered and Molecular Systems (NEMS), 2013 8th IEEE International Conference on

Conference_Location

Suzhou

Electronic_ISBN

978-1-4673-6351-8

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/NEMS.2013.6559711

Filename

6559711