• Proceedings of the Korean Society for Technology of Plasticity Conference
• /
• 2001.10a
• /
• pp.200-203
• /
• 2001

Micromolding methods such as micro-injection molding and micro-compression molding are most suitable for mass production of plastic micro-optics with low cost. In this study, plastic micro-optical components, such as refractive microlenses and diffractive optical elements(DOEs) with various grating patterns, were fabricated using micro-compression molding process. The mold inserts were made by ultrapricision mechanical machining and silicon etching. A micro compression molding system was designed and developed. Polymer powders were used as molded materials. Various defects found during molding were analyzed and the process was optimized experimentally by controlling the governing process parameters such as histories of mold temperature and compression pressure. Mim lenses of hemispherical shape with $250{\mu}m$ diameter were fabricated. The blazed and 4 stepped DOEs with $24{\mu}m$ pitch and $5{\mu}m$ depth were also fabricated. Optical and geometrical properties of plastic molded parts were tested by interferometric technique.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Precision Engineering Conference
• /
• 2005.06a
• /
• pp.1140-1144
• /
• 2005

A plastic-based CE (capillary electrophoresis) microchip was fabricated by hot embossing process. A Si mold was made by wet etching process and a PMMA wafer was cut off from 1mm thick PMMA sheet. A micro-channel structure on PMMA substrate was produced by hot embossing process using the Si mold and the PMMA wafer. A vacuum assisted thermal bonding procedure was employed to seal an imprinted PMMA wafer and a blank PMMA wafer. The results of microscopic cross sectional images showed dimensions of channels were well preserved during thermal bonding process. In our procedure, the deformation amount of bonding process was below 1%. The entire fabrication process may be very useful for plastic based microchip systems.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
• /
• 2005.07a
• /
• pp.655-656
• /
• 2005

In the future, plastic based system will play a crucial role in modem life, for examples, transparent display or disposable electronics and so on. In this paper, we introduced a new method to fabricate the metal line on the plastic substrate. Metal lines were fabricated by hot embossing and CMP process on PMMA (polymethylmethacrylate) substrates. A Si mold was made by wet etching process and a PMMA wafer was cut off from I mm thick PMMA sheet. A 100 nm thick Al was deposited on PMMA wafers. The Al deposited PMMA wafer and the Si mold carefully sandwiched which was directly imprinted by hot embossing. After imprinting process, a residual Al layer was removed by CMP process. Finally, we found the entire process may be very useful to fabricate the metal line on plastic substrates.

• Proceedings of the KSME Conference
• /
• 2000.11a
• /
• pp.743-746
• /
• 2000

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 $125{\mu}m$ and over 3.0, respectively.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
• /
• v.25 no.8
• /
• pp.1242-1245
• /
• 2001

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.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Manufacturing Process Engineers
• /
• v.14 no.4
• /
• pp.14-20
• /
• 2015

Molding technologies for plastic microstructures have been extensively investigated during the last two decades, and theoretical and numerical studies on the micro molding process have provided efficient tools for the development of such molding technologies. In this paper, we present a review of numerical simulation methods for the micro molding process. Basic models for a description of the material property, governing equations of the flow and heat transfer during the molding process, and numerical methods will be described. Particularly, numerical simulations for micro injection molding and hot embossing processes will be presented, and their main features noted and compared to those for conventional molding processes.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Precision Engineering Conference
• /
• 1995.10a
• /
• pp.85-88
• /
• 1995

Recently, the micro mold maching techining technology is developed by means of the mechanical and high energy beam process. It is possible to make the micro structure mold with high aspect ratio by the LIGA technology. This mode is used for mass production of plastic parts by the micro injection molding method. In this study, we intend to research on the basic technology of micro injection molding. As the result, we developed the injection molding technology for small column plastic parts which diameter is 500 .mu. m and 200 .mu. m respectively with wbout aspect ratio 20.

• Proceedings of the Korean Powder Metallurgy Institute Conference
• /
• 2006.09a
• /
• pp.43-44
• /
• 2006

The production method of micro sacrificial plastic mold insert metal injection molding, namely ${\mu}-SPiMIM$ process has been proposed to solve specific problems involving the miniaturization of MIM. Two types of sacrificial plastic molds (SP-mold) with fine structures were used: 1) PMMA resist, 2) PMMA mold injected into Ni-electroform, which is a typical LIGA (${\underline{L}}ithographie-{\underline{G}}alvanoformung-{\underline{A}}bformung$) process. Stainless steel 316L feedstock was injection-molded into the SP-molds with multi-pillar structures. This study focused on the effects of metal particle size and processing conditions on the shrinkage, transcription and surface roughness of sintered parts.

• Transactions of Materials Processing
• /
• v.21 no.2
• /
• pp.119-125
• /
• 2012

The present study addresses a direct patterning process on a plastic film using ultrasonic vibration energy. In this process, a tool horn containing micro-patterns is attached to an ultrasonic power supply, and is used with ultrasonic vibration to replicate micro-patterns on the surface of a plastic film. To improve the replication characteristics of the micro-patterns, the effect of the die shape of the ultrasonic patterning process was investigated with respect to the flow direction control. Finite element analyses were performed to predict the flow characteristics of the polymer with variations in die design parameters. Experiments were conducted using the optimally-designed die, from which it was possible to attain much improved pattern replication.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
• /
• v.15 no.9
• /
• pp.589-593
• /
• 2005

Nanoimprinting lithography (NIL) is known as a suitable technique for fabricating nano and micro structures of high definition. Hot embossing is one of NIL techniques and can imprint on thin films and bulk polymers. Key issues of hot embossing are time and expense needed to produce a stamp withstanding a high temperature and pressure. Fabrication of a metal stamp such as an electroplated nickel is cost intensive and time consuming. A ceramic stamp made by silicon is easy to break when the pressure is applied. In this paper, a plastic stamp using a high temperature epoxy was fabricated and tested. The plastic stamp was relatively inexpensive, rapid to produce and durable enough to withstanding multiple hot embossing cycles. The merits of low viscosity epoxy solutions were a fast degassing and a rapid filling the microstructures. The hot embossing process with plastic stamp was performed on PMMA substrates. The hot embossing was conducted at 12.6 bar, $120^{\circ}C$ and 10 minutes. An imprinted PMMA wafer was almost same value of the plastic stamp after 10 times embossing. Entire fabrication process from silicon master to plastic stamp was completed within 12 hours.