Producing illumination means using micro-lens

A method of making an illumination device, comprising:

• forming an emitter array in an emission layer of a substrate, the emitter array comprising multiple light emitters;
• and
• forming an optical layer on the substrate, including forming an MLA comprising multiple micro-lenses in the optical layer,
• in which forming the MLA includes forming the MLA such that a first region of the MLA is offset from the emitter array by a first offset amount, and a second region of the MLA is offset from the emitter array by a second offset amount different than the first offset amount.

A method for producing an illumination beam, comprising:

• emitting light from each of multiple light emitters in an emitter array;
• at a first region of an MLA comprising multiple micro-lenses, receiving light from a first subset of the light emitters and outputting a first sub-beam having a first angle of deflection;
• at a second region of the MLA, receiving light from a second subset of the light emitters and outputting a second sub-beam having a second angle of deflection different from the first angle of deflection;
• and
• combining the first sub-beam and the second sub-beam to produce the illumination beam.