A simple and low-cost fabrication of polymeric vertical microlens using dip method

Author

Chih-Chao Yang ; Te-Chin Peng ; Yun-Hsun Huang ; Meng-Chyi Wu ; Chong-Long Ho ; Wen-Jeng Ho

Author_Institution

Dept. of Electron. Eng., Nat. Tsing Hua Univ., Hsinchu, Taiwan

Volume

17

Issue

3

fYear

2005

fDate

3/1/2005 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

603

Lastpage

605

Abstract

Polymeric vertical microlenses (PVMs) using photoresist material SU-8 are fabricated with a simple and low-cost process that can be easily applied to the microoptical/optoelectronic bench. By virtue of the strong adhesive force and liquid cohesion, the PVMs are formed by hanging the liquid SU-8 on walls by a dip method. Then, in order to enhance the thermal stability and reliability of the PVMs, the lenses are baked and exposed in the ultraviolet light to crosslink the SU-8. To characterize the PVMs, we use a single-mode fiber carrying a 1.55-μm wavelength laser light source and utilize BeamScope P5 to observe the beam convergences. The output beams through the PVMs show a vertical far-field angle of 3.04/spl deg/, as compared to 5.53/spl deg/ of the beam without passing through the lenses.

Keywords

microlenses; micromechanical devices; optical fabrication; optical polymers; optical testing; photoresists; reliability; thermal stability; ultraviolet radiation effects; 1.55 mum; beam convergences; crosslink; dip method; laser light source; liquid SU-8; liquid cohesion; low-cost fabrication; microoptical/microelectronic bench; photoresist material; polymeric vertical microlens; reliability; single-mode fiber; strong adhesive force; thermal stability; ultraviolet light exposure; Fiber lasers; Laser beams; Lenses; Light sources; Microoptics; Optical device fabrication; Polymers; Resists; Thermal lensing; Thermal stability; Dip method; SU-8; polymer; vertical microlens;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Photonics Technology Letters, IEEE

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

1041-1135

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/LPT.2004.842316

Filename

1396028