Optical quality study of refractive lenses made out of oxide glass using hot embossing

• We discuss hot embossing process to low-cost, low-volume lenses replication.
• We discuss the various process parameters that influences the lens characteristics.
• We analyze the geometrical and optical characteristics of the lenses.

In this paper we discuss the fabrication of lenses made out of multi-component oxide glasses by using double-sided hot embossing to allow low-cost, low-volume replication of these lenses. We focus on the choice of the glass for both the stamps as well as for the molded component and we discuss the various process parameters of the hot embossing process that influences the lens characteristics. We also analyze the geometrical and optical characteristics of the lenses using state-of-the-art optical characterization tools. We find that lenses with radii of curvatures up to 8 mm for a diameter of 4.5 mm can be obtained under standard operation conditions (without vacuum) and that the stamp material should be further optimized in case lenses with higher radii of curvature need to be achieved.