• Proceedings of the Korean Society for Technology of Plasticity Conference
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• 2004.10a
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• pp.280-283
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• 2004

Micro-lens patterned micro-mold fabrication method for Light Guiding Plate(LGP), kernel part of LCD-BLU(Back Light Unit), was presented. Instead of erosion dot pattern for LGP optical design, micro-lens pattern, fabricated by LIGA-reflow process, was applied. Optical pattern design method was also developed not only for negative pattern LGP, but also positive pattern LGP. During injection molding process, experimental study was conducted to improve replication quality and brightness of ${\sim}50um$ micro-lens pattern mold. The effect of mold temperature for the replication quality of micro-lens array was studied.

• Transactions of Materials Processing
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.60-63
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• 2011

BLU(back light unit) is one of kernel parts of LCD(liquid crystal display) unit. New 3-D micro-lens pattern for LGP(light guide plate), one of the most important parts of LCD-BLU, had been researched. Instead of dot pattern made by chemical etching or laser ablation, SCS(slanted curved surface) micro-lens pattern was designed with optical CAE simulation. This study introduce the method of design using optical CAE simulation for SCS micro-lens, the new fabrication method of micro-mold with SCS micro-lens pattern.

• Korea-Australia Rheology Journal
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• v.19 no.3
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• pp.165-169
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• 2007

The light guide plate (LGP) of LCD-BLU (Liquid Crystal Display-Back Light Unit) is usually manufactured by forming numerous dots by etching process. However, the surface of those etched dots of LGP is very rough due to the characteristics of etching process, so that its light loss is relatively high due to the dispersion of light. Accordingly, there is a limit in raising the luminance of LCD-BLU. In order to overcome the limit of current etched-dot patterned LGP, micro-lens pattern was tested to investigate the possibility of replacing etched pattern in the present study. The micro-lens pattern fabricated by the modified LiGA with thermal reflow process was applied to the optical design of LGP. The attention was paid to the effects of different optical pattern type (i.e. etched dot, micro-lens). Finally, the micro-lens patterned LGP showed better optical qualities than the one made by the etched-dot patterned LGP in luminance.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society for Technology of Plasticity Conference
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• 2004.05a
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• pp.241-244
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• 2004

Microlens patterned micro-mold fabrication method for Light Guiding Plate(LGP), kernel part of LCD-BLU(Back Light Unit), was presented. Instead of erosion dot pattern for LCP optical design, microlens pattern, fabricated by LIGA-reflow process, was applied. Optical pattern design method was also developed not only for negative pattern LGP, but also positive pattern LGP. In order to achieve flow balance during the micro-injection molding process and dimensional accuracy, two LGP pattern was made in one micro-mold.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society for Technology of Plasticity Conference
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• 2006.05a
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• pp.95-98
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• 2006

LCD-BLU (Back Light Unit) is one of kernel parts of LCD unit. The fabrication method of a 3-D micro mold patterned with micro-lenses for the LGP (Light Guiding Plate), one of the most important parts of LCD-BLU, was presented. Instead of dot pattern made by etching, 3-D optical pattern design with $50{\mu}m$ micro-lens was applied in the present study. The micro-lens pattern fabricated by modified LiGA with thermal reflow process was applied to the optical design of LGP. The positive micro-lens patterned injection mold with different aspect ratios (i.e. 0.3 and 0.4) was fabricated with modified LiGA with thermal reflow process. The brightness of LCD-BLU increased as aspect ratio of micro-lens increased.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society for Technology of Plasticity Conference
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• 2005.10a
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• pp.79-82
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• 2005

Fresnel lens has number of applications in the optical systems because of its advantages. It is nearly flat lens that has small weight. It is conventionally used in lighthouse beacons, condensing unit of overhead projector and etc. Recently, demands of small size optical systems such as display units, information storage systems, optical detecting units had increased. Conventional manufacturing process of high quality Fresnel lens is direct machining. But it is not suitable for mass production because of high cost and long cycle time. Replication process is more suitable for mass production. But the Fresnel lens has number of sharp blade shape prism. In the replication process, this blade shape causes defects that can affect optical efficiency. In this study, replication process of blade shape pattern that has maximum height of $280{\mu}m$, aspect ratio 1.4 for Fresnel lens application.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society for Technology of Plasticity Conference
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• 2006.05a
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• pp.239-242
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• 2006

LCD-BLU (Liquid Crystal Display - Back Light Unit) is one of kernel parts of LCD unit and it consists of several optical sheets(such as prism, diffuser and protector sheets), LGP (Light Guiding Plate), light source (CCFL or LED) and mold frame. The LGP of LCD-BLU is usually manufactured by forming numerous dots with $50{\sim}200$ um in diameter on it by etching process. But the surface of the etched dots of LGP is very rough due to the characteristics of the etching process during the mold fabrication, so that its light loss is high along with the dispersion of light into the surface. Accordingly, there is a limit in raising the luminance of LCD-BLU. In order to overcome the limit of current etched dot patterned LGP, optical pattern design with 50um micro-lens was applied in the present study. The micro-lens pattern fabricated by modified LiGA with thermal reflow process was applied to the optical design of LGP. The attention was paid to the effects of different aspect ratio (i.e. $0.2{\sim}0.5$) of optical pattern conditions to the brightness distribution of BLU with micro-lens patterned LGP. Finally, high aspect ratio micro-lens patterned LGP showed superior results to the one made by low aspect ratio in average luminance.

• Korea-Australia Rheology Journal
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• v.19 no.3
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• pp.171-176
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• 2007

LCD-BLU (Liquid Crystal Display-Back Light Unit) of medium size is usually manufactured by forming numerous dots with $50{\sim}300\;{\mu}m$ in diameter by etching process and V-grove shape with $50\;{\mu}m$ in height by mechanical cutting process. However, the surface of the etched dots is very rough due to the characteristics of the etching process and V-cutting needs rather high cost. Instead of existing optical pattern made by etching and mechanical cutting, 3-dimensional continuous micro-lens of $200\;{\mu}m$ in diameter was applied in the present study. The continuous micro-lens pattern fabricated by modified LIGA with thermal reflow process was tested to this new optical design of LGP. The manufacturing process using LIGA-reflow is made up of three stages as follows: (i) the stage of lithography, (ii) the stage of thermal reflow process and (iii) the stage of electroplating. The continuous micro-lens patterned LGP was fabricated with injection molding and its test results showed the possibility of commercial use in the future.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Precision Engineering Conference
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• 2004.05a
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• pp.134-134
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• 2004

LCD-BLU의 고효율 광특성을 유도하기 위한 도광판의 초미세패턴 형상가공기술, 미세사출성형기술과 미세형상패턴 광학해석기술 및 전광특성 측정 및 보완기술이 요구된다. 이러한 기술들을 바탕으로 LCD-BLU의 고단가의 주요요인인 기능성 광학 sheet(prism sheet 등)를 연차적으로 제거 및 도광판에 기능을 결합하는 기술개발이 본 연구의 목적이다.(중략)

• Korean Journal of Optics and Photonics
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• v.16 no.6
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• pp.508-515
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• 2005

We propose a fabrication method for refractive lens by variable velocity moving mask lithography and slit pattern. Distribution of exposure dose should be controlled for the curved photoresist surface that works as a refractive surface. We analyze theoretically the distribution of exposure dose by change of moving velocity, moving direction of mask and the shape of mask pattern, and confirm for the curved surface experimentally. The lens could have sag height of a few of hundreds ${\mu}m$, by using thick photoresist or Deep RIE process.