Micro lens imprinted on Pyrex glass by using amorphous Ni–P alloy mold

Abstract

We fabricated micro lenses on a Pyrex glass using thermal nanoimprint technology. The mold material employed to imprint on the Pyrex glass was a Ni/Ti/Si substrate electroless-plated with an amorphous Ni–P alloy. The fabrication of the mold involved high precision FIB processing. In this technique we used a newly developed low-cost mold for imprinting on Pyrex glass rather than using the commonly employed more expensive mold made of glass-like carbon material. Micro lens shaped concave curvatures of radii 12μm and 20μm were created on mold by an FIB system equipped with three-dimensional CAD software. The mold was then used for thermal imprinting on Pyrex glass substrate to fabricate lenses. The accuracy of Ni–P mold proved to be far superior to that of pure Ni mold.