Abstract

We report a cost-effective fabrication method, with a combination of the sample-inverted reflow technique and the soft-lithography replication method, to fabricate conicoid refractive microlens arrays (MLAs), including hyperboloid, paraboloid, and ellipsoid MLAs in inorganic–organic hybrid SiO₂–ZrO₂ solgel material. The fabrication procedures involve two basic steps. First, a master of the conicoid MLA was made in photoresist by the sample-inverted reflow technique. Second, we built a negative mold of the master by casting polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) onto a silicone elastomer against the master, and then the profile was imprinted onto the solgel glass. As a result, the fabricated solgel MLAs have been obtained with excellent smooth profiles, having negligible discrepancies from the profiles of ideal conicoid MLAs.

© 2005 Optical Society of America

Sample-inverted reflow technique for fabrication of a revolved-hyperboloid microlens array in hybrid solgel glass

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