Injection molding and injection compression molding of three-beam grating of DVD pickup lens

The objective of this paper is to investigate the application of injection molding and injection compression molding processes to produce diffraction gratings. A mold was designed to produce a diffraction rating connected with the fixed bushing. The combined part was verified to have a good diffraction performance. Integrated grating eliminates the assembly cost and error. Photolithography was applied to make the mold insert. The Taguchi method and parametric analysis were applied to study the effects of molding parameters on grating quality. The design, fabrication of structured mold surfaces and the results of the replication by injection molding (IM) and injection compression molding (ICM) are presented and compared. The diffraction angle of ICM grating is more accurate than that of IM grating. Grating made by ICM has a much smaller warpage than that made by IM. The diffraction pattern shows that ICM is a better process than IM to replicate a diffraction grating. (c) 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.