Process for the production of optical elements
AssigneeFujitsu Limited
InventorsToshihiro Suzuki, Yasuyuki Todokoro, Kazunari Komenou
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Abstract
A process for the production of optical elements which comprises forming on a substrate a light-sensitive film containing at least a photoreactive compound, and selectively exposing the film to radiation to cause migration of the unreacted compound from an unexposed area to an exposed area by the exposure. The present process is particularly useful in the low-cost mass-production of various micronized optical elements such as plastic microlenses and arrays thereof, optical waveguides, diffraction gratings, and holograms, for example. An optical device comprising the optical elements of the present invention is also disclosed.
Claims24
A process for the production of an optical element, without a development step following an exposure step, which comprises the steps of;
- forming on a substrate a light-sensitive film containing at least a photoreactive compound which, when selectively exposed to radiation, can cause migration of unreacted photoreactive compound from unexposed areas to exposed areas adjacent to the unexposed areas in addition to the reaction of the photoreactive compound in the exposed areas;
- selectively exposing the light-sensitive film to radiation;
- and
- causing migration, as a result of the selectively exposing, of the unreacted compound in the unexposed areas into the exposed areas and reaction of the photoreactive compound in the exposed area to change a configuration of the exposed areas to conform with a desired configuration of the optical element.
An optical device which comprises a support having formed thereon in sequence a shadow mask and an optical element produced by forming on a substrate, in sequence, the shadow mask and a light-sensitive film containing at least a photoreactive compound which, when selectively exposed to radiation causes migration of unreacted photoreactive compound in unexposed areas to adjacent exposed areas, and selectively exposing the light-sensitive film to radiation passed through the shadow mask, which also acts as a photomask for producing the optical element from the light-sensitive film.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.