Replication of micro-optical profiles in ORMOCER and other polymers

The mass production of micro-optical surface reliefs by replication is a fast developing technology. Surface structures are transferred from a master into polymers with high accuracy. In most cases the master is a nickel-shim fabricated by an electroplating process. This metal master can be utilized for the usual replication technologies like embossing, casting and injection moulding. An alternative method for manufacturing micro-optical surface profiles is embossing without metal master but using resist profiles or etched structures as a master. This replication technology may be advantageous if the fabrication of a metal master is too costly, e.g. if only a few replicated copies are needed. The structures and profiles which are presented in this article are replicated in UV-curable and chemical curable polymers.