Applied Surface Science, Vol.361, 80-89, 2016
Micro-ball lens structure fabrication based on drop on demand printing the liquid mold
In this paper, we demonstrated a simple micro-ball lens array (MBLA) fabrication method using a drop-on- demand (DOD) droplet printing technique and liquid mold. The micro-ball droplet array on the hydrophobic surface is used as the liquid mold to fabricate the MBLA. The ultrahigh adhesion force between the micro-ball droplet and the substrate is ascribed to the Wenzel state of the micro-ball droplet, while the replication process with low position error is attributed to the ultrahigh adhesion force between the micro-ball droplet and the substrate and the high viscosity of the micro-ball droplet and polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) liquid. The micro-ball lenses (MBLs) with a contact angle of 120 degrees and 150 degrees were fabricated and the important fabrication details were discussed. The optical performance and scanning electron microscope (SEM) data of the MBLs showed that the MBLs had high quality surface morphology and good optical performance. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Keywords:Micro-ball lens array;Dropon-demand printing;Liquid mold;Superhydrophobic;Ultrahigh adhesion