Curved Film Microstructure Arrays Fabricated via Mechanical Stretching

We report on curved film microstructure arrays fabricated through polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) film buckling induced by mechanical stretching. In the process of the microstructure preparation, a PDMA film is glued on a bidirectionally prestretched PDMS sheet that has a square distributed hole array on its surface. After releasing the prestrain, the film microstructure array is created spontaneously. The fabricated microstructures possess a spherical surface and demonstrate very good uniformity. The film microstructure arrays can serve as microlens arrays with a focal length of 1010 mu m. The microstructure formation mechanism is investigated via theoretical analysis and numerical simulation. The simulation results agree well with the experimental results. The prestrain applied by mechanical stretching during the fabrication has an important effect on the shape of the resulting film microstructures. The microstructure geometry can be easily tuned through controlling the applied prestrain.

Automated summary

Curved film microstructure arrays were fabricated through PDMS film buckling induced by mechanical stretching, resulting in microstructures with a spherical surface and good uniformity. These arrays can function as microlens arrays with a focal length of 1010 μm, and the geometry of the microstructures can be easily adjusted by controlling the applied prestrain. The microstructure formation mechanism was studied through theoretical analysis and numerical simulation, which showed good agreement with experimental results.