Nano fountain pen manufacture of polymer lenses for nano-biochip applications

Polymer microlenses have been manufactured by delivering droplets of a monomer mixture to a glass substrate using a nano fountain pen (NFP). Subsequent UV polymerization yielded microlenses with optical properties that were controlled by varying the deposition time of the monomer solution. Using this approach, it is possible to strategically place single microlenses at predefined positions with very high accuracy, an ability which may prove very useful for nano-biochip applications, as demonstrated.