Fabrication and Characterization of 3D Aspheric Microlenses with Arbitrary Surface Profiles Based on a Novel Excimer Laser Contour Scanning Method

Abstract:

This paper presents a new method for fabricating 3D microstructures with an excimer laser micromachining system. A novel mask contour scanning method is developed for obtaining precise 3D microstructures with pre-described continuous surface profile. Two different microlenses with spherical and aspheric surfaces profiles with dimension less than 200 μm are fabricated on polycarbonate (PC) samples. The surface profiles are measured and compared with their theoretical counterparts. Excellent agreements both in profile shapes and dimensions are achieved. The surface roughness (Ra) of the machined surfaces is also measured and is less than 10 nm. The machining profile accuracy and surface smoothness of this proposed micromachining method show great potentials in fabricating micro-optic components such as aspheric microlenses or microlens arrays.

• Periodical: Materials Science Forum (Volumes 505-507)
• Pages: 67-72
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.4028/www.scientific.net/MSF.505-507.67
• Online since: January 2006
• Authors: Yung Chun Lee, Chun Ying Wu
• Keywords: Excimer Laser, Micro-Fabrication, Micro-Lens

References

[1] S. Sinzinger and J. Jahns, Microoptics 2nd ed. (Wiley-VCH, Weinheim, 2003), Chap. 1.

[2] B. Kress and P. Meyrueis, Digital Diffractive Optics (John Wiley & Sons, Chichester, 2000).

[3] A. Nicia, Lens coupling in fiber-optic devices: efficiency limit, Appl. Opt. 20(18), 3136-3145 (1981).

DOI: 10.1364/ao.20.003136

[4] C. -H. Tein, Y. -E. Chien, Y. Chiu, and H. -P. Shien, Microlens array fabricated by excimer laser micromachining with grey-tone photolithography, Jpn. J. Appl. Phys. Pt. 1, 42, 1280-1283 (2003).

DOI: 10.1143/jjap.42.1280

[5] K. Zimmer, D. Hirsch and F. Bigl, Excimer laser machining for the fabrication of analogous microstructures, Appl. Surf. Sci. 96-98, 425-429 (1995).

DOI: 10.1016/b978-0-444-82412-7.50076-6

[6] K. Naessens, H. Ottevaere, R. Baets, P.V. Daele, and H. Thienpont, Direct writing of microlenses in polycarbonate with excimer laser ablation, Appl. Optics 42, 6349-6359 (2003).

DOI: 10.1364/ao.42.006349

[7] L.M. Galantucci and F. Giusti, Excimer laser cutting: experimental characterization and 3D numerical modeling for polyester resins, Annals CIRP 47, 141-144 (1998).

DOI: 10.1016/s0007-8506(07)62803-0

[8] K. Zimmer, A. Braun, and F. Bigl, Combination of different processing methods for the fabrication of 3D polymer structures by excimer laser machining, Appl. Surf. Sci. 154-155, 601-604 (2000).

DOI: 10.1016/s0169-4332(99)00423-7

[9] K. Zimmer, D. Hirsch and F. Bigl, Excimer laser machining for the fabrication of analogous microstructures, Appl. Surf. Sci. 96-98 (1995) 425-429.

DOI: 10.1016/b978-0-444-82412-7.50076-6

[10] K. Naessens, H. Ottevaere, P.V. Daele, R. Baets, Flexible fabrication of microlenses in polymer layers with excimer laser ablation, Appl. Surf. Sci. 208-209 (2003) 159-164.

DOI: 10.1016/s0169-4332(02)01359-4

[11] K. Naessens, H. Ottevaere, R. Baets, P.V. Daele, and H. Thienpont, Direct writing of microlenses in polycarbonate with excimer laser ablation, Appl. Optics 42 (2003) 6349-6359.

DOI: 10.1364/ao.42.006349

[12] J. A. Nelder and R. Mead, A simplex method for function minimization, Comput. J. 7 (1965) 308-313.

[13] W. H. Press, B.P. Flannery, S.A. Teukolsky, W.T. Vetterling, Numerical Recipes, Cambridge University Press, New York, 1986, Section 10. 4.

DOI: 10.1007/bf01321860