Printing on demand of polymer micro lenses array

In the recent years many commercial applications such as optoelectronics, photonic and biomedical devices, as well as image processing require the fabrication of adaptive and adjustable micro-lens array. A lot of attempts have been conducted in order to support the growing interest in the production of lens arrays for sensors or optical communications devices for parallel data transmission. Several fabrication techniques and a large variety of process have been proposed for polymer based microlenses and their incorporation into technological devices with a large area of application, but, the preparation of moulds, masks or metal layers with very accurate dimensions and shapes is generally required. Here we present the application of a pyro-electrohydrodynamic (Pyro-EHD)-dispenser for the fabrication of polymer microlens arrays overpassing the viscosity limit of the conventional ink-jet printing systems and working in a nozzle-less modality. The results regarding the fabrication procedure and the characterization of polymer micro-lens arrays of different shapes and heights are examined.