Fabrication of Microlens Arrays with High Quality and High Fill Factor by Inkjet Printing

Zhang, Qiaoshuang; Schambach, Maximilian; Schlisske, Stefan; Jin, Qihao; Mertens, Adrian; Rainer, Christian; Hernandez‐Sosa, Gerardo; Heizmann, Michael; Lemmer, Uli

doi:10.1002/adom.202200677

Cited by 27 publications

(24 citation statements)

References 41 publications

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“…We summarize f , NA, and f # of inkjet-printed microlenses in Table and Figure . ,− Our observations reveal that the number of printing drops is a major contributor to the optical properties of EHD jet-printed microlenses. In particular, EHD-printed microlenses exhibit a significantly shorter f , superior NA, and smaller f # compared to other inkjet-printed microlenses, as shown in Table and Figure .…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 92%

Drop-on-Demand Electrohydrodynamic Jet Printing of Microlens Array on Flexible Substrates

Prasetyo

Yudistira

et al. 2023

ACS Appl. Polym. Mater.

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The inkjet-printing technique is regarded as an efficient method to fabricate microlens arrays used in digital cameras, medical endoscopes, displays, optical communication, and light source devices. The diameter, height, and aspect ratio of the microlens are the major contributors to these optical properties. Hence, the optical characteristics of the microlens array can vary with the type of inkjet-printing method. In this study, by employing electrohydrodynamic (EHD) jet printing with the drop-on-demand strategy, we fabricated microlenses and microlens arrays using a UV-curable photopolymer liquid on flexible poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene):polystyrenesulfonate-coated poly(ethylene terephthalate). By controlling the number of printing drops, which is regarded as an efficient approach to control the dimension of the microlens, lenses with diameters of 11.9 ± 0.2 and 24.4 ± 0.5 μm and aspect ratio ranging from 0.22 to 0.33 were constructed. It was found that the focal length (15.44–26.79 μm), numerical aperture (0.39–0.46), and f-number (1.3–1.1) varied with the number of printing drops. The results demonstrate that the EHD-printed microlenses have a much shorter focal length, higher numerical aperture, and smaller f-number than the previously reported printed lenses. Hence, the EHD-printed microlens can be utilized to produce wide-angle-of-view applications and capture accurate images with insufficient light intensity. In addition, the proposed EHD-printing method may provide a cost-effective and simple route for manufacturing microlens arrays.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 92%

Drop-on-Demand Electrohydrodynamic Jet Printing of Microlens Array on Flexible Substrates

Prasetyo

Yudistira

et al. 2023

ACS Appl. Polym. Mater.

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“…[1][2][3][4] It can be utilized for optical image detection to gather a significant amount of environmental information and provide accurate target location information for DOI: 10.1002/adom.202300020 micro air vehicles. [5][6][7][8][9][10] Therefore, obtaining sharp, high-quality-contrast images has always been the goal of the bionic compound eye. It not only provides information about surroundings but also offers a wide range of potential applications, including medical imaging, drone surveillance, and autonomous driving.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Biologically Inspired, Optical Waveguide with Isolation Layer Integrated Microlens Array for High‐Contrast Imaging

Zhai

Niu

Liu

et al. 2023

Advanced Optical Materials

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The compound eyes of insects in nature provide many innovative perspectives for the development of bionic imaging devices. The construction of thousands of ommatidia favors compound eye imaging, and the close arrangement between each small eye generates a significant amount of optical crosstalk. This work reports an optical waveguide integrated with isolation-layer microlens array (WIMLA) with high-contrast, high-resolution imaging inspired by the compound eyes of insects. This WIMLA is mainly fabricated by self-written optical waveguide formed under ultraviolet exposure and the introduction of a black photoresist under the action of capillary force to achieve the effect of double isolation. The experimental results demonstrate that image contrast increases by 59.8% with double-layer isolation and the full width at half-maximum reduces by 27.7% in comparison with those of the MLA without any isolation layer. As a result, a more focused optical path can be confined inside the microlens for transmission. Panoramic stitching is accomplished by traversing all potential matching subimages with the edge detection and breadth-first search algorithms. The combination of the prepared WIMLA with commercial cameras to capture faces will open up new possibilities for mobile navigation, face recognition, and medical monitoring.

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“…Given the considerable potential of microsphere arrays in various fields, developing precise microsphere arrays has become urgent and necessary. Many strategies have been proposed for creating microsphere arrays, for example, self-assembly technology, , etched fiber optic bundles technology, , inkjet printing, photolithographic techniques, soft imprinting lithography method, , and a hydrophilic–hydrophobic method . Of course, there are also some relatively new manufacturing methods, especially the in situ direct print photopolymerization method and an acoustophoretic printing method. , However, designing a low-cost, simple fabrication, and easy to mass production technique that can produce microsphere arrays of uniform size and geometry remains a significant challenge but would be enormously valuable for research.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Droplet Microfluidic-Based Low-Cost and High-Speed Microsphere Array Direct Writing Technology and Its Applications

Guo

Zhang

Wei

et al. 2023

ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces

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Microsphere arrays have significant applications and broad development prospects in various fields and disciplines. The simple, efficient, low-cost, automatic, and controllable preparation of microsphere arrays in multiple dimensions and morphologies is still a significant challenge. Here, a novel microsphere array direct writing technology was developed using a lowcost portable droplet microfluidic device and a high-precision XY movable platform. The proposed technology provided a powerful platform for the direct-writing preparation of microsphere arrays and was successfully applied to the precise and controllable fabrication of microsphere arrays with different sizes, shapes, structures, and arrangements. Additionally, gel microsphere arrays with metal ion patterns were fabricated using the microsphere arrays as templates and exhibited excellent performance in the visual analytical detection of heavy metal ions. Moreover, the simulated microsphere arrays offer a promising platform for rapidly generating high-viability and uniform 3D tumor spheroids. Therefore, given the superiority of this technology and the great potential of microsphere arrays, this simple high-speed microsphere array direct writing technology has a promising application in the multidisciplinary intersection of chemical, biological, and material sciences.

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Fabrication of Microlens Arrays with High Quality and High Fill Factor by Inkjet Printing

Cited by 27 publications

References 41 publications

Drop-on-Demand Electrohydrodynamic Jet Printing of Microlens Array on Flexible Substrates

Drop-on-Demand Electrohydrodynamic Jet Printing of Microlens Array on Flexible Substrates

Biologically Inspired, Optical Waveguide with Isolation Layer Integrated Microlens Array for High‐Contrast Imaging

Droplet Microfluidic-Based Low-Cost and High-Speed Microsphere Array Direct Writing Technology and Its Applications

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