Fabrication of a bionic compound eye on a curved surface by using a self-assembly technique

Microlens arrays on curved surfaces are regarded as critical elements of bionic compound eyes (BCEs), which exhibit the comparative advantages of a wide field of view and tracking fast-moving objects. However, the fabrication of a curved microlens array is still challenging. Along these lines, in this work, a straightforward, rapid, and low-cost technique for the fabrication of curved microlens arrays is reported by using the self-assembly technique. A reactive ion etching process treated the surface of the curved polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) substrate to generate a hydrophobic-hydrophilic pattern. Then, the curved microlens array can be realized by dewetting a liquid glue onto the substrate using the dip-coating method and followed by crosslinking. The proposed BCE structure consists of 2400 microlenses (400 - µm diameter and 440 - µm center distance) arranged in a hexagonal configuration on a curved PDMS surface (34 - mm diameter and 40.4 - mm curvature radius). A field-of-view of 50° was demonstrated, which has potential applications in various fields including imaging sensors, medical diagnostics, machine vision systems, and photodetectors.