Direct Fabrication of Polymer Micro lens Arrays having Tunable Optical Properties using Drop-On-Demand Ink-Jet Printing Technology

Ink-jet printing technique allows locally and precisely dispensing materials for the manufacturing of micro-scale structures. We present the fabrication of piano-convex microlenses using a hybrid organic-inorganic photo-curable polymer diluted in gamma-butyrolactone (GBL). Microlenses are printed on a glass substrate having different number of drops per lens and different surface conditions. We investigated the influence of the surface conditions on the size and shape of the printed microlenses, which can be affected by wetting properties. Further geometrical and optical characterizations are presented in detail.