Microlens Fabrication by Replica Molding of Electro-Hydrodynamic Printing Liquid Mold

Feiyu Fang; Xulei Tao; Xun Chen; Han Wang; Peixuan Wu; Jiarong Zhang; Jun Zeng; Zimin Zhu; Zhen Liu

doi:10.3390/mi11020161

Microlens Fabrication by Replica Molding of Electro-Hydrodynamic Printing Liquid Mold

Micromachines (Basel). 2020 Feb 3;11(2):161. doi: 10.3390/mi11020161.

Authors

Feiyu Fang^{1

2

3}, Xulei Tao^{1

2

3}, Xun Chen^{1

2}, Han Wang^{1

2

3}, Peixuan Wu^{1

2}, Jiarong Zhang^{1

2}, Jun Zeng^{1

2}, Zimin Zhu^{1

2}, Zhen Liu⁴

Affiliations

¹ State Key Laboratory of Precision Electronic Manufacturing Technology and Equipment, School of Electromechanical Engineering, Guangdong University of Technology, Guangzhou 510006, China.
² Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Micro-Nano Manufacturing Technology and Equipment, School of Electromechanical Engineering, Guangdong University of Technology, Guangzhou 510006, China.
³ Guangdong Provincial Jihua Laboratory, Foshan 528000, China.
⁴ Department of Physics and Engineering, Frostburg State University, Frostburg, MD 21532, USA.

Abstract

In this paper, we synergistically combine electrohydrodynamic (EHD) printing and replica molding for the fabrication of microlenses. Glycerol solution microdroplets was sprayed onto the ITO glass to form liquid mold by an EHD printing process. The liquid mold is used as a master to fabricate a polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) mold. Finally, the desired micro-optical device can be fabricated on any substrate using a PDMS soft lithography mold. We demonstrate our strategy by generating microlenses of photocurable polymers and by characterizing their optical properties. It is a new method to rapidly and cost-effectively fabricate molds with small diameters by exploiting the advantages of EHD printing, while maintaining the parallel nature of soft-lithography.

Keywords: electrohydrodynamic printing; microlenses; replica molding; soft lithography.

Abstract

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