Concave micro-lens arrays fabricated from the photo-patternable GeO2/ormosils hybrid sol–gel films

• Photosensitive GeO2/ormosil hybrid film is prepared by a sol–gel process.
• A dense hybrid film can be obtained at a baking temperature of below 300 °C.
• Optical transmittance changes a little with increase the baking temperature.
• Photo-polymerization process of the film proceeds with increase the baking temperature.
• The sol–gel concave micro-lens have a good imaging quality.

Photo-patternable GeO2/γ-glycidoxypropyltrimethoxysilane hybrid thin films were synthesized by a low-temperature sol–gel spin-coating technique. Optical properties and photochemical activities of the as prepared hybrid sol–gel films baked at different temperature were characterized by atomic force microscopy, prism coupling technique, UV–Visible spectroscopy, and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. The thermal stability of the gel powder obtained from the hybrid material sol was also examined by a thermal gravimetric analysis. Advantages for fabrication of concave micro-lens arrays based on the as-prepared photo-patternable hybrid films were demonstrated by a UV-cured imprint technique. Results indicate that the as-prepared photo-patternable hybrid materials have great applicability for the fabrication of photonic components. And the UV-cured imprint technique has advantages of simplicity, cost-effective, mass-production, and potential applications in industry production.

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