A basic experimental study of ultrasonic assisted hot embossing process for rapid fabrication of microlens arrays

Abstract

This paper reports a highly effective technique for rapid fabrication of microlens arrays based on an ultrasonic assisted hot embossing process. In this method, a thin stainless steel mold with micro-holes array is fabricated by a photolithography and wet etching process. Then, the thin stainless steel mold with micro-holes array is placed on top of a plastic substrate (PMMA plate) and the stack is placed in an ultrasonic vibration embossing machine. During ultrasonic assisted hot embossing operation, the surface of the stainless steel mold with micro-holes array presses against the thermoplastic PMMA substrate. Under proper ultrasonic vibration time, embossing pressure and hold time, the softened polymer will just partially fill the circular holes and due to surface tension, form a convex lens surface. After the stainless steel mold is removed, the microlens array patterns on the surface of plastic substrate can be obtained. The total cycle time is less than 10 s. Finally, geometrical and optical properties of the fabricated plastic microlens arrays were measured and proved satisfactory. This technique shows great potential for fabricating microlens array on plastic substrates with high productivity and low cost.