FABRICATION OF MICROCOMPONENTS

摘要

Microcomponents such as microlenses or other micro-optic components are fabricated by known exposure of a pattern onto photoresist material such that the intensity on each elemental area of the photoresist material corresponds to the depth of material to be etched away after the photoresist is exposed and developed. The area of the surface is notionally divided into elemental squares each of which in the mask is given an appropriate grey scale value by means of an appropriate number of small, precisely arranged openings. To blur the sharp transitions this would produce in the exposed and developed photoresist shape, the image of the mask on the photoresist is arranged to be out of focus by a predetermined amount such as between lines (12a, 12b) to smooth the sharp transitions and/or for the use of openings in the mask of a size less than the diffraction limit of the imaging optics.