Abstract
We demonstrate the fabrication of a refractive microlens array by using 248 nm excimer laser micromachining with coded gray-tone mask photolithography. With pre-corrections to the nonlinear exposure process, the maximum deviation from the designed shape was below 5%. The fabricated hemispherical lens of 30 μm radius was used as a solid immersion lens (SIL) and combined with a 0.54 numerical aperture (NA) objective to achieve a 0.87 effective NA through the knife-edge scanning test. The experimental results agreed with those of the simulation. Unlike the methods such as the thermal melting process, this one-step optical exposure method with a coded mask provides a relatively fast and cost-effective way to realize a microlens array in optical data storage, information processing, and optical interconnection applications.
Original language | American English |
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Pages (from-to) | 1280-1283 |
Number of pages | 4 |
Journal | Japanese Journal of Applied Physics, Part 1: Regular Papers and Short Notes and Review Papers |
Volume | 42 |
Issue number | 3 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Mar 2003 |
Keywords
- Excimer laser
- Gray-tone photolithography
- SIL