Focus-tunable ECF microlens by MEMS technology

This paper proposes a novel elastomer-based tunable liquid-filled microlens by using an electro-conjugate fluid (ECF) and MEMS technology. The common approach for tuning the elastomer-base microlens is to change the geometry of boundary determined by the control pressure of the chamber by using the external pump, while this paper proposes micropump-inside tunable microlens by using the ECF. ECF is a dielectric fluid that works as a smart fluid, generating a powerful jet flow (ECF jet) when subjected to a high DC voltage. Since ECF jet is generated only with a pair of tiny electrodes, the pumping mechanism can be inside the device. We fabricated the focus-tunable microlens by using the ECF and MEMS technology. The experimental results show us the feasibility of the ECF microlens.