Objective
- Development of cost-saving processes for the production of arrays of microlenses made by
SiO2-based polymers
Basic principles
- Ink-jet-printing
: A drop is extracted from a piezo-ceramic nozzle and deposited
on a substrate by a x-y-z-micro-positioning system
- Pad printing
: Lines or dots are etched in a die plate and filled with a sol.
Cylindrical and spherical lenses are produced by printing the sol with a pad on a
substrate
Results
- With both printing processes spherical and cylindrical single lenses and arrays of
micro-lenses can be produced in a reproducible way using hydrolized
methacryloxypropyltrimethoxysilane (MPTS) sols.
Typical lens parameters are:
Ink-jet-printing:
diameter of lenses: 50 mm
height of lenses: 6.25 mm
focal length: 100 mm
transparency: 92 % (370 nm < l < 2.7 mm)
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Microscopic picture of an array of microlenses
produced by ink-jet-printing of a sol based on MPTS deposited on a glass substrate
Pad printing:
diameter of lenses: 180 mm
height of lenses: 4.2 mm
focal length: 1.9 mm
transparency: 92 % (370 nm < l < 2.7 mm)
Applications
- focusing in detector arrays
- illumination in flat panel displays
- imaging in photocopiers
- fiber optics (light focusing, coupling)
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Laboratory Technology
