Abstract
Plastic microlenses play an important role in reducing the size, weight, and the cost of the systems in the fields of optical data storage and optical communication. In the present study, plastic microlens arrays were fabricated using micro-compression molding process. The design and fabrication procedures for mold insert were simplified by using silicon instead of metal. A simple but effective micro compression molding process, which uses polymer powder, were developed for microlens fabrication. The governing process parameters were temperature and pressure histories and the micromolding process was controlled such that the various defects developing during molding process were minimized. The radius and magnification ratio of the fabricated microlens were 125$\mu\textrm{m}$ and over 3.0, respectively.
