• The Transactions of The Korean Institute of Electrical Engineers
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• v.57 no.10
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• pp.1841-1846
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• 2008

In this paper, we present the fabrication of microlens by electrohydrodynamic atomization(EHDA) of PDMS prepolymer. The diameter and contact angle of PDMS microlens can be altered by changing the applied voltage and substrate temperature at the experimental setup. It is considered that PDMS microlens can be integrated into the Lab-on-a-chip directly without any photolithographic process by EHDA. The property of PDMS microlens is confirmed by transmitting and measuring the Gaussian beam through microlens.

• Current Optics and Photonics
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• v.7 no.5
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• pp.485-495
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• 2023

The pixel size in high-resolution complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) image sensors continues to shrink due to chip size limitations. However, the pixel pitch's miniaturization causes deterioration of optical performance. As one solution, a quad color filter (CF) array with pixel binning has been developed to enhance sensitivity. For high sensitivity, the microlens structure also needs to be optimized as the CF arrays change. In this paper, the covered microlens, which consist of four microlenses covered by one large microlens, are proposed for the quad CF array in the backside illumination pixel structure. To evaluate the optical performance, the suggested microlens structure was simulated from 0.5 ㎛ to 1.0 ㎛ pixels at the center and edge of the sensors. Moreover, all pixel structures were compared with and without in-pixel deep trench isolation (DTI), which works to distribute incident light uniformly into each photodiode. The suggested structure was evaluated with an optical simulation using the finite-difference time-domain method for numerical analysis of the optical characteristics. Compared to the conventional microlens, the suggested microlens show 29.1% and 33.9% maximum enhancement of sensitivity at the center and edge of the sensor, respectively. Therefore, the covered microlens demonstrated the highly sensitive image sensor with a quad CF array.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society for Technology of Plasticity Conference
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• 2007.10a
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• pp.104-107
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• 2007

An aspheric microlens array to improve the properties of multi optical probes was designed and fabricated. To generate multi optical probes with good qualities, a microlens array with the minimum spherical aberration was designed by ray tracing. Using the reflow process, a master pattern of aspheric microlens array was made and finally with the ultraviolet-imprinting (UV-imprinting) method, the aspheric microlens array was replicated. The reflow condition was optimized to realize the master pattern of the microlens array with the designed aspheric shape. The intensity distribution of the optical probes at the focal plane showed a diffraction-limited shape.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society for Technology of Plasticity Conference
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• 2007.10a
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• pp.100-103
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• 2007

A microlens array has been required to improve light conversion efficiency in image sensors. A microlens array can be usually fabricated by photoresist reflow, hot-embossing, micro injection molding, and UV-imprinting. Among these processes, a UV-imprinting, which is operated at room temperature with relatively low applied pressure, can be a desirable process to integrate microlens array on image sensors, because this process provides the components with low thermal expansion, enhanced stability, and low birefringence, furthermore, it is more suitable for mass production of high quality microlens array. In this study, to analyze the optical properties of the wafer scale microlens array integrated image sensor, another wafer scale simulated image sensor chip array was designed and fabricated. An aspherical square microlens was designed and integrated on a simulated image sensor chip array using a UV-imprinting process. Finally, the optical performances were measured and analyzed.

• Design & Manufacturing
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• v.2 no.2
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• pp.29-32
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• 2008

A back light unit (BLU) is a key module of a thin film transistor liquid crystal display (TFT-LCD), frequently utilized in various mobile displays. In this study, we experimentally characterize transcription and optical properties of concave and convex microlens arrays (MLAs) of light guide plate (LGP) fabricated by injection molding with polycarbonate as a LGP substrate material. Nickel mold inserts were manufactured by electroforming on the MLA which was fabricated by the thermal reflow of photoresist microstructures patterned by UV-photolithography. For the case of convex microlens, the height of replicated microlens was less than that of the mold insert while maintaining almost the same microlens diameter of the mold insert as the location of the microlens is far from the gate. In contrast, for the concave microlens, the diameter of replicated microlens was larger than that of mold insert, while showing almost the same microlens height as the mold insert. From the optical examination of replicated convex and concave MLAs, it was found that a higher luminance of the LGP was achieved by the concave MLAs compared to the convex MLAs (about 30% enhancement in this case)due to the utilization of a larger amount of light provided by the light sources.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society for Technology of Plasticity Conference
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• 2003.10a
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• pp.377-380
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• 2003

Recently, demand of digital products with optoelectronic device is increasing rapidly. A microlens array is applied to improve optical efficiency on optoelectronic device, and it is usually fabricated by photolithography and reflow process after planarization layer coating process. UV molding process is more suitable for mass production of high quality microlens array than photolithography and reflow process. In the present study, microlens array was fabricated on the simulated optoelectronic device with planarization layer by aligned UV molding process. The shape of replicated microlens was measured, and the section image of molded part was examined.

• Transactions of Materials Processing
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• v.15 no.1 s.82
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• pp.34-41
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• 2006

Microlens arrays were fabricated by a modified LIGA process composed of the exposure of a PMMA (Polymethylmethacrylate) sheet to deep x-rays and subsequent thermal treatment. A successful modeling and analyses for microlens formation were presented according to the experimental procedure. A nickel mold insert was fabricated by the nickel electroforming process on the PMMA microlens arrays fabricated by the modified LIGA process. For the replication of microlens arrays having various diameters with different foci on the same substrate, both hot embossing and microinjection molding processes have been successfully utilized with the fabricated mold insert. Replicated microlenses showed very good surface roughness with the order of 1 nm. The focal lengths of the injection molded microlenses were successfully estimated theoretically and also measured experimentally.

• Transactions of Materials Processing
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• v.13 no.3
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• pp.236-241
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• 2004

UV-molded microlens arrays with high replication quality were fabricated using a parametric design method. It is important to maximize the replication quality, because one can obtain the replicated micro-optical components with desired properties by accurate control of the shape. In the present study, nickel mold inserts for microlens arrays with lenses having diameters between $3\mu\textrm{m}$ and $230\mu\textrm{m}$ were fabricated by electroforming process. An UV-molding system was designed and constructed, a simple technique to avoid micro-air bubbles was first suggested, and the effects of the compression pressure and UV-curing dose on the replication quality of UV-molded microlens arrays with a diameter of $14\mu\textrm{m}$ were examined experimentally. Finally, geometrical and optical properties of the replicated microlens arrays were measured and analyzed.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society for Technology of Plasticity Conference
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• 2005.09a
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• pp.23-28
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• 2005

Microlens arrays were fabricated using a modified LIGA process based on the exposure of a PMMA (Polymethylmethacrylate) sheet to deep x-rays and subsequent thermal treatment. A successful modeling and analyses for microlens formation were presented according to the experimental procedure. A nickel mold insert was fabricated by the nickel electroforming process on the PMMA microlens arrays fabricated by the modified LIGA process. For the replication of microlens arrays having various diameters with different foci on the same substrate, the hot embossing and the microinjection molding processes have been successfully utilized with the fabricated mold insert. Fabricated microlenses showed good surface roughness than the mold insert. The focal lengths of the injection molded microlenses were successfully measured experimentally and also estimated theoretically.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Precision Engineering Conference
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• 2005.10a
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• pp.572-575
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• 2005

A microlens connected to microfluidic channel is fabricated. The microlens is sealed with an elastomeric membrane which deforms by pressure of fluid driven by a syringe pump resulting in the shape change of the microlens. The optical properties of the microlens could be controlled by changing the microlens shape. The microlens system were made of an elastomer, PDMS, using molding from a photoplastic master patterned by UV photolithography. The test results show the optical property of the lens could be made into convex and concave type by applying the fluidic pressure positive and negative.