Fabrication of micro imaging lens

• Main Author: Lin, Weiding.
• Other Authors: Murukeshan Vadakke Matham
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: English
• Published: 2009
• Subjects: DRNTU::Engineering::Manufacturing
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10356/16746
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

Micro-electromechanical systems (MEMS) technology is an enabling tool for fabrication of components, devices and systems in the micro scale. The advancement in MEMS technology has allowed the designation and fabrication of different types of microlenses. In fact, studies on microlenses have been increasing as researchers search and developed various methods and designs to fabricate microlenses for medical purpose etc. In this report, an introduction into the world of microlenses has been covered in the literature review section. The area of studies includes the studies of the different fabrication methods and the type of material to be used. The focus of this report will be the fabrication of microlenses by micro-compression molding. Polycarbonate will be used as the fabrication material in this report. The preparation steps included the usage of various equipments like the Rheograph 6000 Shimadzu CFT 500-D Capillary Rheometer for the Polycarbonate extrusion process and the Struers Minitom (Low Speed Cut-off Machine) for cutting the samples. The optimal parameters which may affect the fabricated results were then studied and experimented. The chosen parameters are the molding temperature, de-molding temperature and the molding velocity. A micro-compression machine was specially designed and studied for the fabrication process. Evaluation on the microlenses were carried out using the Scanning Electron Microscope and the initial findings concluded that molding temperature and de-molding temperature serves as critical components in the fabrication process. The ideal fabricated microlenses should have a diameter of 1.4mm and a spherical height of 0.7mm. This is to allow optical fibers of diameter 0.6mm to be attached to the microlenses. This report uses the Design of Experiment Method whereby a three level (33) factorial design was implemented. Future work directions were discussed towards the end of this report.