Claims
- 1. A method of making a micro-optic element, wherein the method comprises:
disposing at least one photo-resistant element on at least one surface of a substrate; forming the top surface of the photo-resistant element to a curved form; solidifying the formed photo-resistant element; exposing the substrate and the formed photo-resistant element to a reactive ion etch chamber; and etching the substrate and the formed photo-resistant element such that the etching of the substrate produces the micro-optic element on the substrate, wherein the etching process involves the control of the selectivity between the substrate and the formed photo-resistant element so as to produce a predetermined curved surface on the micro-optic element, and wherein the predetermined curved surface is configured for collimating a broad area laser beam.
- 2. The method of claim 1, wherein the predetermined curved surface on the micro-optic element is elliptical.
- 3. The method of claim 1, wherein the predetermined curved surface on the micro-optic element is parabolic.
- 4. The method of claim 1, wherein the substrate is made of silicon and the photo-resistant element is made of AZ9260 photo-resist.
- 5. The method of claim 1, wherein control of the selectivity during the etching process comprises, controlling the flow rate of an etching gas to the substrate and the plurality of formed photo-resistant elements.
- 6. The method of claim 5, wherein the etching gas is a mixture of SF6 and O2.
- 7. The micro-optic element made by the method of claim 1.
- 8. A method of forming a plurality of micro-optic elements, wherein the method comprises:
disposing a plurality of photo-resistant elements on at least one surface of a substrate, wherein the plurality of photo-resistant elements are each formed to a predetermined height and predetermined diameter; forming the top surface of each photo-resistant element to a curved form; solidifying the plurality of formed photo-resistant elements; exposing the substrate and the plurality of formed photo-resistant elements to a reactive ion etch chamber; and etching the substrate and the plurality of formed photo-resistant elements such that the etching of the substrate produces the plurality of micro-optic elements on the substrate, wherein the etching process involves the control of the selectivity between the substrate and the plurality of formed photo-resistant elements, and wherein the selectivity is controlled to be at least 5:1, thereby forming a predetermined curved surface on the plurality of micro-optic elements.
- 9. The method of claim 8, wherein the predetermined curved surface on the plurality of micro-optic elements is elliptical.
- 10. The method of claim 8, wherein the predetermined curved surface on the plurality of micro-optic elements is parabolic.
- 11. The method of claim 8, wherein the substrate is made of silicon and the photo-resistant elements are made of AZ9260 photo-resist.
- 12. The method of claim 8, wherein the predetermined curved surface is formed such that, when a laser beam is directed through the predetermined curved surface, the predetermined curved surface produces an output laser beam having a Gaussian intensity profile.
- 13. The method of claim 8, wherein the predetermined curved surface is formed such that, when a laser beam is directed through the predetermined curved surface, the predetermined curved surface produces an output laser beam having a parabolic intensity profile.
- 14. The method of claim 8, wherein the plurality of micro-optic elements has a Gaussian intensity profile promoting surface.
- 15. The method of claim 8, wherein the plurality of micro-optic elements has a parabolic intensity profile promoting surface.
- 16. The method of claim 8, wherein the selectivity is in a range greater than 5:1 and less than or equal to 8:1.
- 17. The method of claim 8, wherein the predetermined height of the photo-resistant elements is approximately twenty microns and predetermined diameter is approximately four hundred microns.
- 18. The method of claim 8, wherein control of the selectivity during the etching process comprises, controlling the flow rate of an etching gas to the substrate and the plurality of formed photo-resistant elements.
- 19. The method of claim 18, wherein the etching gas is a mixture of SF6 and O2.
- 20. An array comprising the plurality of micro-optic elements made by the method of claim 8.
- 21. The method of claim 8, wherein the method further comprises, forming a curved reflector structure on the surface of the plurality of micro-optic elements on the substrate, thereby forming a plurality of parabolic micro-optic on at least one surface of the curved reflector structure, wherein the individual parabolic micro-optic are formed by the plurality of micro-optic elements such that the individual micro-mirrors have a predetermined curved surface for collimating a laser beam directed into the individual micro-mirrors.
- 22. The method of claim 20, wherein the formation of the curved reflector structure is produced by an injection molding process.
- 23. The method of claim 20, wherein the formation of the curved reflector structure is produced by a thermal embossing process.
- 24. The method of claim 20, wherein the micro-mirrors have a parabolic profile.
- 25. The method of claim 20, wherein the micro-mirrors have an elliptical profile.
- 26. The method of claim 20, wherein the micro-mirrors have a Gaussian promoting profile.
- 27. An array comprising the plurality of micro-mirrors made by the method of claim 21.
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION
[0001] This application is a continuation-in-part of application Ser. No. 10/104,900, filed Mar. 20, 2002, pending, now U.S. Pat. No. ______, issued ______.
Continuation in Parts (1)
|
Number |
Date |
Country |
Parent |
10104900 |
Mar 2002 |
US |
Child |
10365580 |
Feb 2003 |
US |