Development of a Non-uniform Heating System for Micro Hot Embossing

Abstract

Abstract In recent years, many replication methods of microstructures on large-area substrates have been reported. The plate-to-plate hot embossing process is a low cost, fast, high throughput and the most possibility of mass production method for replication of micro/nano structures with high precision and high quality. However, micro hot embossing is not practical to use in mass production due to the many difficulties. This paper reports a innovative non-uniform heating hot embossing system for fabrication of large-size, high precise and high brightness light guide plate. Steam is used as heating medium, and water of 12°C is used for cooling. The v-groove patterns in the stamper have been replicated to the light guide plates (LGPs) with an area of 488 mm by 277 mm. The experimental results show that the non-uniform heating system could achieve a transcription rate of over 99%, compared with 95% using conventional uniform heating system. Furthermore, less warpage, the less thickness variation, the higher average luminance and the higher brightness field distribution have been found. The results indicate that non-uniform heating system is likely to be a promising technique for the fabrication of optical elements.