Design and fabrication of curved silicon image planes for miniature monocentric imagers

We introduce the design and fabrication of a segmented, hemispherical silicon image plane for 10 mm-diameter spherical monocentric lens. In order to conform to the spherical focal plane of the lens, we create flexible gore patterns consisting of spring-connected silicon hexagons. Mechanical functionality is demonstrated by assembling 20 μm-thick, patterned silicon gores into a curved test fixture. We have also fabricated and tested a photodiode array in a CMOS compatible process. The hemispherical imager will enable a compact 160° field-of-view camera with a fill factor over 80% using a single spherical lens.