Control of polymer recovery during replication of micro-optical elements with continuous relief in fused silica

Experiments are made to determine the influence of imprinting parameters, while micro-optical elements with continuous relief are replicated in fused silica using thermal imprinting and dry etching. Experimental results indicate that under the condition of complete filling, imprint temperature has the most significant effect on polymer recovery, and it can cause a relative height error up to 25% of the designed height at the center of imprinting result; A relative height error of less than 6.5% and a height root-mean-square error of 5.41% are achieved at the center of final replica by controlling the polymer recovery. It is therefore concluded that imprinting parameters can be optimized by increasing imprinting temperature, extending imprinting time and decreasing demolding temperature while the smallest and the thinnest initial resist thickness are selected.

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