Carrier Layer Transfer Coating for Microstructured Lenses
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing methods for coating microstructured lenses, such as Pi-Fresnel lenses, often result in deviations from the original design, requiring longer development times and higher costs, and some lenses cannot be coated using common methods like dip or spin coating due to loss of optical design.
Innovation Solution
A method involving a carrier layer is used to apply a hard multi-coat (HMC) on a lens with surface microstructures. The process includes providing a lens with microstructures and an adhesive layer, pressing a coating stack with a carrier layer against the adhesive layer, curing the adhesive, and then removing the carrier layer, ensuring the adhesive layer is thicker than the microstructures to prevent damage.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of manufacture
If common coating methods (dip or spin coating) are used on microstructured lenses, then coating process is simple, but optical design is lost due to deformation of microstructures
Solution Approach 1:
A carrier layer is introduced as an intermediary between the coating stack and the lens surface. The carrier layer receives the coating stack through standard dip or spin coating processes, then transfers it to the lens surface. This mediator allows the use of simple coating processes while preventing direct contact between the coating application process and the sensitive microstructures, thus preserving optical design fidelity.
Solution Approach 2:
The coating system is segmented into three distinct components: the carrier layer, the coating stack, and the lens with microstructures. The carrier layer acts as a temporary substrate for coating application, separating the coating process from the final lens surface. This segmentation enables independent optimization of the coating process and the lens structure, maintaining manufacturing precision while preserving process simplicity.
2Strength
If coating is applied directly to microstructured lenses, then coating adhesion is achieved, but microstructure deformation occurs requiring design compensation
Solution Approach 1:
The coating stack is applied to the carrier layer in advance, before the actual lamination to the lens. This preliminary coating action allows the coating to be formed under controlled conditions on the carrier, avoiding direct exposure to the microstructured surface during the sensitive coating formation phase. The pre-formed coating is then transferred intact to the lens, maintaining both adhesion and geometric precision.
Solution Approach 2:
The carrier layer serves as a protective intermediary during the entire coating process. It provides a flat, stable surface for coating application that does not induce microstructure deformation. The adhesive layer acts as a secondary intermediary that enables controlled transfer of the coating from the carrier to the lens, ensuring adhesion without direct harmful interaction between the coating process and microstructures.
3Manufacturing precision
If adhesive layer thickness is reduced to match microstructure depth, then coating precision is improved, but risk of microstructure damage increases
Solution Approach 1:
The adhesive layer is designed with a thickness greater than the microstructure depth, creating a protective cushion that completely covers the microstructures during the lamination process. This prior cushioning prevents direct mechanical contact between the rigid coating stack and the vulnerable microstructures, eliminating the risk of damage while maintaining sufficient coating precision through the carrier layer interface.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
This method allows for the successful application of a hard multi-coat on microstructured lenses without deforming or damaging the underlying microstructures, enabling the coating of lenses that could not be coated using standard methods, thus reducing development time and costs.
Implementation Method 1
providing a lens having microstructures on a surface thereof and an adhesive layer coated thereon
Implementation Method 2
pressing a coating stack, via a carrier layer attached to a first surface of the coating stack by a release coating, against the adhesive layer
Implementation Method 3
removing the carrier layer from the first surface of the coating stack via the release coating
Implementation Method 4
curing the adhesive layer
Data Source
AI summary
A method of forming an optical lens includes providing a lens having microstructures on a surface thereof and an adhesive layer coated thereon; pressing a coating stack, via a carrier layer attached to a first surface of the coating stack by a release coating, against the adhesive layer, a second surface of the coating stack being in contact with the adhesive layer; and curing the adhesive layer and removing the carrier layer from the first surface of the coating stack via the release coating, wherein a thickness of the adhesive layer is greater than a depth of the microstructures on the surface of the lens.