We report a focal-length tunable liquid lens based on thermopneumatically driven fluidic pressure. The fluidic pressure is generated by deformation of an elastomeric diaphragm induced by thermopneumaticity from a laterally integrated microheater sealed within an air chamber. The pressure is transmitted by a confined liquid to a lens diaphragm through an internal fluid channel. The liquid filling under the lens diaphragm functions as a liquid lens for dynamic focusing with properties depending on the curvature of the deformed diaphragm. The diaphragm area of the air chamber is designed five times larger than that of the lens cavity to yield high focal-length tunability by amplified deflection of the lens diaphragm. With our method, we achieved excellent focal-length tunability from infinity (without an input current) to 4 mm (with an input current of 12 mA) with a lens aperture diameter of 2 mm.

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The fabrication of a poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA)-micromachined fluid lens with an optimally designed built-in electromagnetic actuator was demonstrated in this study. Through a finite element method, the number of winding turns and the distance between magnetic moments were estimated to design an effective and miniaturized electromagnetic actuator. The lens body composed of PMMA structures was simply and rapidly micromachined using computer numerical control micro-milling. The poly(dimethylsiloxane) (PDMS) membranes for electromagnetic actuation were bonded to the PMMA structures by using the proposed PMMA-PDMS bonding technique, which uses an SiO 2 intermediate layer. A physical repulsive force produced by the electromagnetic actuator applies a controllable fluidic pressure to a fluidic chamber that is sealed with the PDMS membrane, thus allowing dynamic focusing. The focus tunability of the fabricated lens was 67 diopters with a focus hysteresis of less than 1 mm and a response time of 2 ms. The solenoid of the built-in actuator showed negligible thermal crosstalk to the lens.

In this paper, we propose methods to enhance the durability of a microelectromechanical system (MEMS)-based liquid droplet lens driven by electrowetting. The enhanced durability of the lens is achieved through not only improvement in quality of dielectric layer for electrowetting by minimizing concentration of coarse pinholes, but also mitigation of physical and electrostatic stresses by reforming lens cavity. Silicon dioxide layer is deposited using plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition, splitting the process into several steps to minimize the pinhole concentration in the oxide layer. And the stresses-reduced cavity in a form of overturned tetra-angular truncated pyramid with rounded corners, which is based on simulated results, is proposed and realized using silicon wet etching processes combined into anisotropic and isotropic etching.

In recent years, some efforts have been made in our laboratory to improve the performance of previously reported electrolyte-based tilt sensors. Even though the previously reported electrolytic tilt sensors have merits of low cost and a simple fabrication process, they show several undesirable performances such as inconsistent response time and slow reversion when it returns to the initial position (inclination angle of 0°) from an arbitrary tilted position. The irregular performances are caused by the flat upper cover. In this paper, we report the design and fabrication of an electrolytic tilt sensor with a domed cap for improving the response time and instant reversion. For a fast and regular reversion, the cavities on the cap substrate have been designed to be a domed shape. The measured reversion time with the proposed tilt sensor from 10° to the initial state was approximately 0.3 s, which is more than 6 times faster than the previously reported one.