Design of GaN convex diffractive microlenses

In this work, convex diffractive microlenses are designed for fabrication in GaN-based material with a gray-level mask. The aspect ratios of the surface relief of piano-convex and double-convex microlenses for different numerical apertures are compared to reduce the fabrication difficulty. The results show that for the numerical aperture less than 0.6, the aspect ratio of the double-convex diffractive microlenses is around half of the plano-convex diffractive microlenses. For the numerical aperture higher than 0.6, the aspect ratio of the plano-convex diffractive microlenses is similar to the double-convex diffractive microlenses. The error of the surface relief of the microlens occurring during the fabrication process is also discussed. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.