MECHANICAL AND SURFACE TOPOGRAPHY CHANGES DURING MECHANICAL TESTING OF DIFFRACTION OPTICAL ELEMENTS IN POLYMER

D evelopments in modern electronics, optoelectronics, industry of microsystems, and technology of biomedical devices are generating intense research interest. Creating polymer materials with well-defined physical and chemical properties is an important step towards building efficient devices. Replication technologies such as embossing, molding, and casting1,2 are highly attractive for the fabrication of surface-relief Diffractive Optical Element (DOE) microstructures.3,4 They have very high resolution, typically in the nanometer range, and allow the fabrication of large area, complex microstructure by low-cost, high-volume industrial production processes. Their use is already well established for gratings, holograms, and diffractive foils, and the extension to the fabrication of deeper and higher aspect ratio microstructure is underway. The combination of replication technology with other processes such as dry etching and thin film coating can also offer new possibilities in the design of DOEs suitable for mass production. Replication is expected to become a key technology for the microfabrication of DOEs in the future.5–7