Reverse replication of circular micro grating structures with soft lithography

In this work, the reverse replication of circular micro grating structures on glass substrates is implemented using an ultra-violet curable resin and a polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) mold which has the same structure as the original circular grating master. Two different techniques (“double PDMS replication” and “polymer- PDMS replication”) are employed to fabricate those reversed circular micro grating structures. Surface profiling measurements show that in case of the polymer-PDMS replication the dimensions of the resulting circular grating structures closely approximate those of the master, while the grating height is slightly decreased in case of the double PDMS replication technique, mainly due to the use of the releasing agent. For both methods, the grating slopes of the circular gratings are almost unchanged, leading to the desired optical performance. The two techniques are quite useful for more accurate reverse replications of micro optical and photonic structures.