Optical Cluster Eye fabricated on wafer-level

Area of Science:

• Optics
• Microfabrication
• Camera Systems

Background:

• Wafer-level optics offers a cost-effective method for miniaturized cameras through parallel fabrication.
• Current micro-optical fabrication challenges include achieving required accuracy for complex, mm-scale optical elements.
• Microlens array fabrication is a mature and controllable micro-optical process.

Purpose of the Study:

• To propose a novel multi-aperture system, the Optical Cluster Eye, leveraging conventional micro-optical fabrication.
• To demonstrate a wafer-level fabrication approach for miniaturized camera systems with high yield.
• To enable the use of commercially available image sensors for seamless image stitching.

Main Methods:

• Development of a multi-aperture camera system comprising numerous optical channels.
• Each channel captures a distinct segment of the total field of view.
• Image stitching algorithms are employed to create a seamless final image.

Main Results:

• The Optical Cluster Eye system achieves high yield fabrication on a wafer level.
• The realized optics measure 2.2 × 2.9 mm² with a total track length of 1.86 mm.
• The system successfully captures images at VGA video resolution.

Conclusions:

• The Optical Cluster Eye system effectively utilizes mature microlens array fabrication for miniaturized cameras.
• This approach overcomes accuracy limitations of complex micro-optical elements.
• Wafer-level fabrication of multi-aperture systems offers a viable path for cost-effective, high-performance imaging.