Abstract

A simple reflow technique is employed for the fabrication of elliptical refractive microlens arrays (MLAs) on a low-cost inorganic-organic SiO₂/ZrO₂ sol-gel glass. The measured results show that the fabricated elliptical microlenses in a 256 × 512 array have excellent surface and dimensional qualities in terms of smoothness and uniformity. It is also shown that the optical parameters of the MLAs, such as the focal length and aperture dimension, can be accurately controlled. The proposed technique requires only an ordinary binary photomask for pattern transfer. Furthermore, the sol-gel material is found to be feasible for high-volume production, because the fabrication of MLAs can be implemented by use of cheap sol-gel materials without an etching step.

© 2003 Optical Society of America

Low-cost and efficient coupling technique using reflowed sol-gel microlens

M. He, X. -C. Yuan, N. Q. Ngo, J. Bu, and S. H. Tao
Opt. Express 11(14) 1621-1627 (2003)

Simple reflow technique for fabrication of a microlens array in solgel glass

M. He, X.-C. Yuan, N. Q. Ngo, J. Bu, and V. Kudryashov
Opt. Lett. 28(9) 731-733 (2003)

Hybrid sample-inverted reflow and soft-lithography technique for fabrication of conicoid microlens arrays

Miao He, Xiaocong Yuan, Jing Bu, and Wai Chye Cheong
Appl. Opt. 44(19) 4130-4135 (2005)

Fabrication of concave refractive microlens arrays in solgel glass by a simple proximity-effect-assisted reflow technique

Miao He, Xiaocong Yuan, Jing Bu, and Wai Chye Cheong
Opt. Lett. 29(9) 1007-1009 (2004)

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

Miao He, Xiaocong Yuan, and Jing Bu
Opt. Lett. 29(17) 2004-2006 (2004)