Methods of cutting or forming cavities in a substrate for use in making optical films, components or wave guides

Abstract

The methods involve using a tool to cut or form multiple optical element shaped cavities in a surface of a substrate without rotating the tool or substrate during the cutting or forming process. At least some of the cavities are cut or formed to have at least two surfaces that come together to form a ridge and that are quite small relative to the length and width of the substrate. Thereafter the substrate is used to form optical films, components or wave guides having multiple optical elements on at least one surface corresponding to the cavities in the substrate.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS [0001] This application is a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10 / 729,113, filed Dec. 5, 2003, which is a division of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09 / 909,318, filed Jul. 19, 2001, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,752,505, dated Jun. 22, 2004, which is a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09 / 256,275, filed Feb. 23, 1999, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,712,481, dated Mar. 30, 2004, the entire disclosures of which are incorporated herein by reference.FIELD OF THE INVENTION [0002] This invention relates to methods of cutting or forming one or more patterns of optical element shaped cavities in a substrate for use in forming corresponding patterns of optical elements on or in optical substrates including films, components or wave guides and the like. BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION [0003] It is generally known to provide multiple optical elements on or in one or more surfaces of optical substrates including films, components or...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0005] The difficulty and cost of making optical substrates including one or more patterns of optical elements having at least two surfaces that come together to form a ridge and are quite small relative to the length and width of the optical substrates are substantially reduced by using a tool to cut or form cavities of such patterns of optical element shapes in a substrate without rotating the tool or substrate during the cutting or forming process, and thereafter using the substrate to form the optical substrates having the optical elements on or in at least one surface of the optical substrates corresponding to the cavities in the substrate.

Problems solved by technology

A drawback to this method is the difficulty and expense of cutting or forming cavities of certain types of optical element shapes including particularly those having at least two surfaces that come together to form a ridge and are quite small relative to the length and width of the optical substrates.

Also the spinning tools needed to make these geometric shapes are quite expensive and difficult to make, and have a relatively short useful life because of breakage or the like, which further adds to the cost of making cavities having these geometric shapes.

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