JP2008155547A - Manufacturing process of optical element, optical element, and optical apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an optical element which can easily manufacture the optical element exhibiting stable optical characteristics in various environments and to provide a manufacturing process. <P>SOLUTION: The manufacturing process of the optical element having a plurality of lenses and a length of a longitudinal direction of 200 mm or more comprises a substrate-with a recess part preparing step of preparing a substrate 6 with the recess parts having a plurality of recess parts of the shape corresponding to the shape of the lens on the front surface, a resin substrate installing step of installing the resin substrate 2 composed of a thermosetting resin of the state that it is mainly not completely hardened between the glass substrate 11 composed of a glass material and the substrate 6 with the recess part, and transferring/connecting steps of transferring the surface shape of the substrate 6 with the recess part to the resin substrate 2 while pressing and heating the resin substrate 2 with the glass substrate 11 and the substrate 6 with the recess part and joining the resin substrate 2 and the glass substrate 11. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2008,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to an optical component manufacturing method, an optical component, and an optical apparatus.

In an optical system used for an optical apparatus, an optical component such as a lens array or a hologram substrate having a fine structure on the surface is used.
Such an optical component is generally manufactured by injection molding or the like using a resin material. However, when an optical component is manufactured using a single resin material, it is difficult to manufacture the optical component as designed by heating or cooling during manufacturing because the resin material has a high coefficient of linear expansion.

  In order to solve such a problem, for example, after supplying uncured photocurable resin having fluidity to a mold having a shape corresponding to the surface shape of the optical component, the photocurable resin is smoothed. It was composed of a glass substrate and a photocurable resin by a method of pressing with a transparent substrate (glass substrate) to adhere and bond the photocurable resin and the transparent substrate and then curing the resin, so-called 2P method. Attempts have been made to manufacture optical components (see, for example, Patent Document 1).

  However, in the method as described above, since the difference in the linear expansion coefficient between the photocurable resin and the glass substrate is large, distortion or the like occurs due to heat, light, etc. during the production, and the optical device has stable optical characteristics. It was difficult to obtain parts. Further, the obtained optical component has a problem that it cannot exhibit stable optical characteristics in various environments. In particular, when a relatively large optical component is manufactured by the above-described method, the above-described problem is remarkable. In addition, since the photocurable resin has light absorption in the ultraviolet wavelength region, there are problems such as degradation of light energy and light transmittance.

JP 2001-92365 A

  An object of the present invention is to provide an optical component manufacturing method, an optical component, and an optical apparatus that can easily manufacture an optical component that exhibits stable optical characteristics in various environments.

Such an object is achieved by the present invention described below.
The method for producing an optical component of the present invention is a method for producing an optical component having a plurality of lenses and having a length in the longitudinal direction of 200 mm or more,
A substrate preparation step with a recess for preparing a substrate with a recess having a plurality of recesses in a shape corresponding to the shape of the lens on the surface;
Between the glass substrate mainly composed of a glass material and the substrate with recesses, a resin substrate installation step of installing a resin substrate mainly composed of a thermosetting resin that does not completely cure,
The resin substrate is heated while pressing the resin substrate with the glass substrate and the substrate with recesses, and the surface shape of the substrate with recesses is transferred to the resin substrate, and the transfer / bonding is performed to join the resin substrate and the glass substrate. And a process.
Thereby, the manufacturing method of the optical component which can manufacture easily the optical component which exhibits the stable optical characteristic in various environments can be provided.

In the method for manufacturing an optical component of the present invention, the transfer / bonding step is preferably performed in a reduced-pressure atmosphere.
Thereby, it is possible to prevent bubbles from entering between the substrate with recesses and the resin substrate.
In the method of manufacturing an optical component according to the aspect of the invention, it is preferable that the resin substrate includes 5 to 20 wt% of a solvent that dissolves a monomer constituting the thermosetting resin.
As a result, the resin substrate has a more appropriate flexibility when pressed, while having a proper formability in normal times.

In the method for manufacturing an optical component of the present invention, it is preferable to remove the solvent in the transfer / bonding step.
Thereby, in the transfer / joining step, the thermosetting resin filled in each recess can be more reliably cured, and the heat resistance of the optical component finally obtained can be further increased. .

In the optical component manufacturing method of the present invention, it is preferable that an absolute value of a difference between a refractive index of the glass substrate and a refractive index of the thermosetting resin is 0.2 or less.
Thereby, reflection of the light in the interface of a glass substrate and a resin layer can be suppressed effectively, and the utilization efficiency of the light of an optical component can be improved. As a result, the optical component exhibits more excellent optical characteristics.

In the method for manufacturing an optical component of the present invention, it is preferable to perform a surface treatment for improving adhesion to the resin substrate on a surface of the glass substrate to be bonded to the resin substrate.
Thereby, the adhesiveness of a glass substrate and a resin layer improves, and the unintentional peeling of a resin layer, the shrinkage | contraction and expansion | swelling, etc. of the resin layer by a heat | fever, light, etc. can be suppressed more effectively.
In the method for manufacturing an optical component of the present invention, a second substrate-with-recess preparing step for preparing a second substrate with a recessed portion having a plurality of recessed portions having a shape corresponding to the shape of the lens on the surface;
Between the substrate with the second recess and the surface of the glass substrate opposite to the surface to which the resin substrate is bonded, a second material mainly composed of a thermosetting resin that does not completely cure. A second resin substrate installation step of installing a resin substrate;
In the transfer / bonding step, the second resin substrate is heated while being pressed between the glass substrate and the substrate with recesses, and the surface shape of the substrate with second recesses is transferred to the second resin substrate. At the same time, it is preferable to join the second resin substrate and the glass substrate.
Thereby, a some lens can be easily shape | molded on both surfaces of a glass substrate.

The optical component of the present invention is manufactured by the method of the present invention.
Thereby, the optical component which exhibits the stable optical characteristic in various environments can be provided.
In the optical component of the present invention, it is preferable that a plurality of the lenses are arranged in a line.
Thereby, it can be suitably applied to an optical system of an optical device such as a printer (image forming apparatus) or a scanner.
An optical apparatus according to the present invention includes the optical component according to the present invention.
Thereby, for example, it is possible to provide an optical apparatus with stable quality and excellent resolution.

Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail based on preferred embodiments shown in the accompanying drawings.
1 is a schematic longitudinal sectional view showing an example of the optical component of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a plan view of the optical component shown in FIG. 1, and FIG. 3 shows an example of a method for manufacturing the optical component of the present invention. It is a typical longitudinal section.
First, the optical component of the present invention will be described.
The optical component (lens array) 1 is used, for example, in an optical device as described later. As shown in FIG. 1, a plurality (large number) of glass substrates 11 and one surface side of the glass substrate 11 are provided. The resin layer 12 including the lens 121 and the resin layer 13 including the plurality of lenses 131 on the other surface side of the glass substrate 11 are provided.
This optical component 1 has a function of emitting light irradiated from one surface side while converging it on various surface sides through each lens.

The glass substrate 11 has a function of supporting a resin layer 12 and a resin layer 13 described later.
Examples of the material of the glass substrate 11 include soda glass, crystalline glass, quartz glass, lead glass, potassium glass, borosilicate glass, and non-alkali glass. Among these, it is preferable to use quartz glass. Borosilicate glass can be suitably used because it has high mechanical strength and heat resistance, and has a very low coefficient of linear expansion and little change in shape due to heat.

The thickness of the glass substrate 11 is preferably 0.5 to 2 mm, and more preferably 0.5 to 1 mm.
The resin layer 12 is bonded to one surface side of the glass substrate 11 and has a plurality of lenses 121.
In the present embodiment, as shown in FIG. 2, the optical component 1 has a configuration in which a plurality of rows in which a plurality of lenses 121 are arranged in a line in the longitudinal direction of the optical component 1 are arranged in the width direction of the optical component 1. It has become. With such a configuration, it can be suitably applied to an optical system of an optical device such as a printer (image forming apparatus) or a scanner.

Similarly to the resin layer 13, the resin layer 13 is bonded to the other surface side of the glass substrate 11 and has a plurality of lenses 131.
The plurality of lenses 131 are arranged as shown in FIG. The plurality of lenses 121 and the plurality of lenses 131 are configured such that the centers of the lenses coincide with each other when viewed in plan.

The average diameter of the lens 121 and the lens 131 when viewed in plan is preferably 100 to 2000 μm, and more preferably 500 to 1500 μm.
Moreover, it is preferable that the curvature radius of the lens 121 and the lens 131 is 500-1500 micrometers.
The resin layer 12 and the resin layer 13 are made of a thermosetting resin. By comprising a thermosetting resin, it is possible to make the optical component 1 excellent in solvent resistance and to sufficiently reduce the shrinkage and expansion of the resin layer due to heat and light. . As a result, the optical component 1 exhibits excellent optical characteristics in various environments.

Examples of the thermosetting resin constituting the resin layer 12 and the resin layer 13 include phenol resin, urea resin, melamine resin, epoxy resin, alkyd resin, unsaturated polyester resin, diallyl phthalate resin, and the like. One kind or a mixture of two or more kinds can be used.
The absolute value of the difference between the refractive index of the glass substrate 11 and the refractive index of the resin layer 12 and the resin layer 13 (thermosetting resin constituting the resin layer 12 and the resin layer 13) is 0.1 or less. Preferably, it is 0.05 or less. Thereby, the reflection of the light in the interface of the glass substrate 11 and each resin layer can be suppressed effectively, and the utilization efficiency of the light of the optical component 1 can be improved. As a result, the optical component 1 exhibits more excellent optical characteristics.

  The optical component 1 has a length in the longitudinal direction of 200 mm or more. In general, when an optical component having such a length and having the structure as described above is to be manufactured by a conventional manufacturing method such as the 2P method, shrinkage or expansion due to heat, light, or the like is caused during the manufacturing process. For this reason, variations in optical characteristics occur, making it difficult to suppress variations in quality. On the other hand, by manufacturing using the method of the present invention as described later, variation in optical characteristics can be made sufficiently small, and an optical component with stable quality can be provided.

As described above, the optical component 1 has a length in the longitudinal direction of 200 mm or more, but is preferably 300 mm or more. Thereby, the effects as described above are more remarkably exhibited.
As described above, the optical component 1 is composed of the glass substrate 11 and the resin layer 12 and the resin layer 13 composed of a thermosetting resin. For this reason, compared with what comprised only the resin material, the shrinkage | contraction and expansion | swelling, etc. of the optical component 1 by the heat | fever and light at the time of use can be made small enough. As a result, the optical component 1 exhibits excellent optical characteristics in various environments.

Next, the manufacturing method of the optical component of this invention is demonstrated, referring an accompanying drawing.
In the method of manufacturing the optical component 1 according to the present embodiment, the first substrate 6 with concave portions and the second substrate 6 'with concave portions having a plurality of concave portions having shapes corresponding to the lens shapes as described above on the surface. Between the glass substrate 11 mainly composed of a glass material and the first substrate 6 with the recess, the first composed mainly of a thermosetting resin that does not completely cure. The second resin substrate 2 is mainly composed of a thermosetting resin in a state where the resin substrate 2 is not completely cured between the glass substrate 11 and the second recessed substrate 6 ′. The step of installing ', and heating each resin substrate while pressing the glass substrate 11 and each substrate with recesses to transfer the surface shape of each substrate with recesses to each resin substrate, and each resin substrate and glass substrate 11 And joining the step .

Hereinafter, each step will be described in detail.
[Preparation process of substrate with first recess and substrate with second recess]
First, a first substrate 6 with recesses and a second substrate 6 'with recesses are prepared.
The first substrate 6 with recesses includes a plurality of recesses 61 having a shape corresponding to the plurality of lenses 121 as described above.

In addition, the second substrate 6 ′ with recesses includes a plurality of recesses 61 ′ having a shape corresponding to the plurality of lenses 131 as described above.
The first substrate with recesses 6 and the second substrate with recesses 6 ′ may be manufactured by any method, for example, by cutting a metal plate or the like. Alternatively, a substrate formed of glass, silicon, or the like may be manufactured by forming the shape of the recess by a photolithography method and performing various etching processes.
In addition, it is preferable to perform a mold release process on the surface provided with the recess of each substrate with recesses. Thereby, the board | substrate with a recessed part can be easily removed from each resin layer in the process mentioned later.

[Glass substrate preparation process]
On the other hand, a glass substrate 11 is prepared.
As the glass substrate 11, a substrate having a uniform thickness and having no deflection or scratch is preferably used.
Moreover, it is preferable to perform the surface treatment which improves the adhesiveness with a resin substrate with respect to the surface joined to the resin substrate (1st resin substrate 2 and 2nd resin substrate 2 ') which the glass substrate 11 mentions later. . Thereby, adhesiveness with a resin layer (the resin layer 12 and the resin layer 13) improves, and the shrinkage | contraction and expansion | swelling, etc. of the resin layer by unintentional peeling of a resin layer, heat, light, etc. are suppressed more effectively. be able to.

Examples of the treatment for improving the adhesion include surface treatment using a silane coupling agent and surface treatment using a surfactant. Among the above-mentioned, surface treatment using a silane coupling agent is particularly preferable. Thereby, an adhesion improvement process can be performed more effectively.
Examples of the silane coupling agent include vinyltrimethoxysilane, 3-glycidoxypropyltrimethoxysilane, 3-methacryloxypropyltrimethoxysilane, γ-aminopropyltrimethoxysilane, N-2- (aminoethyl)- Examples include 3-aminopropyltrimethoxysilane, 3-aminopropyltriethoxysilane, hexamethyldisilazane (HMDS), 3-mercaptopropyltrimethoxysilane, octadecyldimethylchlorosilane (ODS), and the like.
Among the above-mentioned, it is preferable to use γ-aminopropyltrimethoxysilane. Thereby, adhesiveness with a resin material can be improved more effectively.

[First resin substrate and second resin substrate preparation step]
On the other hand, a first resin substrate 2 and a second resin substrate 2 ′, which are mainly made of a thermosetting resin that does not completely cure, are prepared.
Since the resin substrates (the first resin substrate 2 and the second resin substrate 2 ′) made of a thermosetting resin that is not completely cured can be deformed with an appropriate force, they will be described later. In the transfer / bonding step, the surface shape of the substrate with recesses (first substrate 6 with recesses and second substrate 6 'with recesses) can be easily transferred. That is, the thermosetting resin can be easily filled in each recess. At the same time, the thermosetting resin filled in each recess can be completely cured by heating as described later. Also, when such a semi-cured resin substrate is used, shrinkage and expansion when cured can be effectively suppressed, and dimensional changes due to heat during production can be effectively prevented. Can do. As a result, the optical component 1 with stable quality can be provided. Moreover, the heat resistance and chemical resistance of the optical component 1 finally obtained can be made particularly high by using a thermosetting resin.

In addition, the thermosetting resin in a state that does not completely cure means a state in which all the monomers constituting the thermosetting resin are not reacted and remain.
Moreover, the solvent which melt | dissolves the monomer which comprises a thermosetting resin remains in the thermosetting resin in the state which does not reach hardening completely.
The content of the solvent as described above in the first resin substrate 2 and the second resin substrate 2 ′ is preferably 1 to 20 wt%, and more preferably 1 to 15 wt%. Thereby, each resin substrate has a more appropriate flexibility when pressed with a substrate with a recess, while having an appropriate regularity in normal times. That is, the thermosetting resin can be filled into the recess 3 more reliably during pressing.

Examples of such a solvent include butanol, dimethylacetamide, propylene glycol monomethyl ether acetate (PGMEA), γ-butyllactone, and the like.
The solvent as described above is vaporized and removed by heat in a transfer / joining process described later. Thereby, in the transfer / joining process to be described later, the thermosetting resin filled in each recess can be more reliably cured, and the heat resistance of the finally obtained optical component 1 is further increased. be able to.

[First resin substrate and second resin substrate installation step]
Next, the first resin substrate 2 is installed on one surface of the glass substrate 11 as described above, and the second resin substrate 2 ′ is installed on the other surface (see FIG. 3A).
Next, on the side where the first resin substrate 2 is installed, the first substrate 6 with recesses is installed so that the surface on which the recesses 61 are provided and the first resin substrate 2 face each other. On the other hand, on the side where the second resin substrate 2 ′ is installed, the second substrate 6 ′ with recesses is installed so that the surface provided with the recesses 61 ′ and the second resin substrate 2 ′ face each other ( (See FIG. 3 (a)).
As described above, the first resin substrate 2 is installed between the glass substrate 11 and the substrate 6 with recesses, and the second resin substrate 2 is interposed between the glass substrate 11 and the second substrate 6 ′ with recesses. 'Is installed.

[Transfer / Join process]
Next, as shown in FIG.3 (b), it presses, heating each resin substrate with the glass substrate 11 and each board | substrate with a recessed part. Thereby, the surface shape of each substrate with recesses is transferred to each resin substrate, and the glass substrate 11 and each resin substrate are bonded (transfer / bonding step). Moreover, with such transfer / joining, the thermosetting resin is cured by heating. And as shown in FIG.3 (b), the resin layer 12 provided with the some lens 121 is formed between the board | substrate 6 with a 1st recessed part, and the glass substrate 11, and the board | substrate with a 2nd recessed part A resin layer 13 having a plurality of lenses 131 is formed between 6 ′ and the glass substrate 11.

In addition, the heating of each resin substrate may be performed by, for example, pressing the glass substrate 11 and / or each substrate with recesses in a heated state, or by heating the entire substrate. Also good.
The heating temperature is preferably T _{3 to} T ₃ +30 [° C.], where T ₃ [° C.] is a temperature at which the thermosetting resin is cured (temperature at which the remaining monomer starts to react), and T ₃ It is more preferably +10 to T ₃ +20 [° C.]. If the heating temperature is less than the lower limit, it may be difficult to sufficiently cure the thermosetting resin depending on the type of the thermosetting resin and the like. Moreover, when heating temperature exceeds the said upper limit, depending on the kind etc. of thermosetting resin, resin material may not fully be filled in each recessed part.

Further, such a transfer / bonding step is preferably performed under a reduced pressure atmosphere. Thereby, it can prevent that a bubble enters between each board | substrate with a recessed part, and each resin substrate. Moreover, the solvent contained in each resin substrate as described above can be more easily removed.
Specifically, the atmospheric pressure during the transfer / bonding step is preferably 100 Pa or less, and more preferably 10 Pa or less. Thereby, it can prevent reliably that a bubble enters between each board | substrate with each recessed part, and each resin substrate. Moreover, the solvent contained in each resin substrate as described above can be more reliably removed.

Next, the whole is cooled without removing each substrate with recesses. Thus, by cooling in the state which pressed each board | substrate with a recessed part, the change of the dimension of each resin layer by cooling can be prevented more effectively.
Thereafter, by removing each substrate with concave portions, an optical component 1 (optical component of the present invention) as shown in FIG. 1 is obtained.
According to the method as described above, an optical component with stable quality can be easily manufactured. In addition, an optical component that exhibits stable optical characteristics in various environments can be easily manufactured.

<Optical equipment>
Next, the optical apparatus (image forming apparatus) of the present invention including the optical component as described above will be described in detail based on the embodiment shown in FIG.
FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram showing a configuration of an image forming apparatus to which the optical apparatus of the present invention is applied.
As illustrated in FIG. 4, the image forming apparatus 100 includes a toner storage unit 101 that stores toner, a cylindrical photosensitive member 102 that develops a toner image, a developing roller 103 that supplies toner to the photosensitive member 102, and a toner A supply roller 104 that supplies toner from the storage unit 101 to the developing roller 103, an intermediate transfer roller 105 and a secondary transfer roller 106 that transfer the toner image developed by the photosensitive member 102 to the recording medium, and the toner image transferred to the recording medium And a fixing unit 107 that fixes the toner image on the recording medium.

Around the photosensitive member 102, a charger 108 that uniformly charges the outer peripheral surface of the photosensitive member 102, and the outer peripheral surface that is uniformly charged by the charger 108 are sequentially synchronized with the rotation of the photosensitive member 102. A line head 109 provided with the optical component (lens array) 1 as described above for line scanning is provided.
The surface of the photosensitive member 102 is uniformly charged by the charger 108 and then exposed according to information to be recorded by the line head 109, whereby an electrostatic latent image is formed. In addition, the site | part exposed by the light condensed with a pair of lens which the optical component 1 opposes corresponds to 1 pixel.

Incidentally, a rod lens array has been conventionally used for a line head (optical system) of such an image forming apparatus. However, in the rod lens array, since it is difficult to sufficiently collect light, the size of one pixel is increased, and it is difficult to sufficiently improve the resolution.
On the other hand, by applying the optical component of the present invention to the optical system of the image forming apparatus, the size of one pixel can be made sufficiently small, and as a result, the resolution can be made higher. Can do.

The supply roller 104 rotates to face the developing roller 103 and has a function of supplying toner to the developing roller 103.
The developing roller 103 has a function of rotating at the same speed as the photosensitive member 102 and transferring the toner to the electrostatic latent image. As described above, the toner is transferred to the electrostatic latent image on the photoconductor 102, whereby a toner image is formed on the photoconductor 102.

After the toner image formed on the photoconductor 102 is transferred to the intermediate transfer roller 105, a transfer current is passed through the secondary transfer roller 106, and the toner is applied to a recording medium such as paper passing between the two. The image is transferred.
The fixing unit 107 includes a pressure roller 1071 and a heating roller 1072, and has a function of fixing the toner image transferred to the recording medium to the recording medium by pressing and heating.

Since such an image forming apparatus 100 includes the optical component 1 (the optical component of the present invention) as described above, an image with high resolution and stable quality can be formed. In addition, when mass-produced, quality variations among manufactured image forming apparatuses can be made sufficiently small.
In addition to the image forming apparatus of FIG. 4, examples of the optical apparatus of the present invention include a scanner, a liquid crystal display device, and a rear projector. And it cannot be overemphasized that the optical component of this invention mentioned above is applicable as an optical system of these various optical apparatuses.

The preferred embodiments of the optical component manufacturing method, the optical component, and the optical apparatus of the present invention have been described above, but the present invention is not limited to this.
For example, in the method for manufacturing an optical component according to the present invention, one or two or more optional steps may be added.
In the above-described embodiment, the optical component has been described as having the resin layer including a plurality of lenses on both surfaces of the glass substrate, but is not limited thereto, for example, only on one surface of the glass substrate, A resin layer provided with a plurality of lenses may be provided.

(Example 1)
Optical components were manufactured as follows.
[Preparation process of substrate with first recess and substrate with second recess]
First, a STAVAX used for a mold was prepared by plating a nickel plate having a thickness of about 500 μm and having a length in the longitudinal direction of 250 mm.
Next, a plurality of recesses having an average diameter of 200 μm and a curvature radius of 100 μm were formed on the metal plate by cutting to obtain a first substrate with recesses.
On the other hand, the 2nd board | substrate with a recessed part which has several recessed part with an average diameter of 200 micrometers and a curvature radius of 100 micrometers was manufactured similarly to the above.

[Glass substrate preparation process]
On the other hand, a glass substrate (thickness: 1.92 mm, refractive index: 1.52) made of borosilicate glass and having a length in the longitudinal direction of 250 mm was prepared.
Next, surface treatment (adhesion improvement treatment) is performed on both surfaces of the glass substrate using γ-aminopropyltrimethoxysilane (manufactured by Shin-Etsu Chemical Co., Ltd., trade name “KBE-903”) as a silane coupling agent. did.
This surface treatment is performed by applying a liquid obtained by diluting γ-aminopropyltrimethoxysilane to 0.5% with a solvent (ethanol) on a glass substrate by spin coating, rinsing with pure water, and then about 110 The heat treatment was performed on a hot plate at 0 ° C.

[First resin substrate and second resin substrate preparation step]
On the other hand, a first resin composed of a phenolic resin (thermosetting resin, refractive index: 1.60, curing temperature: 180 ° C.) that is not completely cured has a thickness of 100 μm and a length in the longitudinal direction of 250 mm. The resin substrate and the second resin substrate were prepared. In addition, content of the solvent which melt | dissolves the monomer which comprises a phenol resin in the resin substrate was 20 wt%.

[First resin substrate and second resin substrate installation step]
Said 1st resin substrate and 2nd resin substrate were each installed in the one surface and the other surface of a glass substrate.
Next, on the side where the first resin substrate was installed, the first substrate with recesses was installed so that the surface provided with the recesses and the first resin substrate faced each other. On the other hand, on the side where the second resin substrate was installed, the second substrate with recesses was installed so that the surface on which the recesses were provided and the second resin substrate were opposed.

[Transfer / Join process]
Next, after reducing the atmospheric pressure to 10 ⁻² Pa, the atmospheric temperature was set to 200 ° C., and the glass substrate, each resin substrate, and each substrate with recesses were heated. The temperature was set at 200 ° C. and left for 2 minutes.
Next, each resin substrate was pressed with a pressure of 120 kN with each substrate with recesses, and this state was maintained for 5 minutes.
Then, it cooled and removed each board | substrate with a recessed part, and obtained the optical component provided with the some lens arranged as shown in FIG. The average lens diameter of the obtained optical component was 200 μm, and the radius of curvature was 100 μm.

(Examples 2 to 5)
As the first and second substrates with recesses, those having recesses with an average diameter and a radius of curvature as shown in Table 1, and as a glass substrate with the types and refractive indexes shown in Table 1, Further, optical elements were manufactured in the same manner as in Example 1 except that the first and second resin substrates used were those having the types and thicknesses of resin materials shown in Table 1.

(Comparative example)
An unpolymerized (uncured) ultraviolet (UV) curable epoxy resin (refractive index of 1.59) is applied to the surface of the substrate with the first recesses obtained in the same manner as in Example 1 on which the recesses are formed. did.
Next, a UV curable epoxy resin was pressed on one surface of the same glass substrate as in Example 1. At this time, air was prevented from entering between the glass substrate and the UV curable epoxy resin.

Next, the UV curable epoxy resin was cured by irradiating ultraviolet rays of 10,000 mJ / cm ² from the glass substrate side, and a large number of lenses were formed on one surface of the glass substrate.
Then, the 1st board | substrate with a recessed part was removed.
Next, an unpolymerized (uncured) ultraviolet (UV) curable epoxy resin (refractive index of 1.59) is formed on the surface of the second substrate with recesses obtained in the same manner as in Example 1 on which the recesses are formed. ).

Next, the UV curable epoxy resin on the substrate with the second concave portion was pressed on the surface opposite to the side on which the lens of the glass substrate was formed. At this time, air was prevented from entering between the glass substrate and the UV curable epoxy resin.
Next, the UV curable epoxy resin was cured by irradiating ultraviolet rays of 10,000 mJ / cm ² from the glass substrate side, and a large number of lenses were formed on the other surface of the glass substrate.

Thereafter, the substrate with the second concave portion was removed to obtain an optical component having a plurality of lenses arranged as shown in FIG. The average lens diameter of the obtained optical component was 200 μm, and the radius of curvature was 100 μm.
Examples 1 to 5 and comparative example of first and second substrate with recesses average diameter of recesses, radius of curvature of recesses, type of glass substrate, refractive index, resin material constituting first and second resin substrates Table 1 shows the type, refractive index, solvent content, resin curing temperature T ₃ , the average lens diameter of the manufactured optical component, and the radius of curvature of the lens.

(Evaluation)
In Examples 1-5, compared with the comparative example, the optical component was able to be manufactured easily. In particular, in the example, the lens could be formed on both sides simultaneously, whereas in the comparative example, since the resin was fluid, the lens could not be formed on both sides simultaneously.
In addition, when optical parts were continuously manufactured using the methods of the examples and comparative examples, stable optical quality parts could be manufactured with high productivity in the examples. On the other hand, in the comparative example, a defective product was produced and the yield was extremely poor.

  In addition, an image forming apparatus having a configuration as shown in FIG. 4 was manufactured using the optical components obtained in the examples and comparative examples. When an image was continuously printed for a long time using the obtained image forming apparatus, the image forming apparatus provided with the optical component of the example obtained a high-resolution and high-quality image for a long time. However, in the image forming apparatus provided with the optical component of the comparative example, image disturbance was confirmed, and over time, the image distortion became significant. This is thought to be because the resin layer of the optical component was unintentionally shrunk / expanded during the manufacturing process, or the resin layer of the optical component was unintentionally shrunk / expanded due to heat and light from long-term operation. .

It is a typical longitudinal cross-sectional view which shows an example of the optical component of this invention. It is a top view of the optical component shown in FIG. It is a typical longitudinal cross-sectional view which shows an example of the manufacturing method of the optical component of this invention. 1 is a schematic diagram illustrating a configuration of an image forming apparatus to which an optical apparatus of the present invention is applied.

Explanation of symbols

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Optical component 12 ... Resin layer 121 ... Lens 13 ... Resin layer 131 ... Lens 2 ... 1st resin substrate 2 '... 2nd resin substrate 6 ... 1st board | substrate with a recessed part 6' ... With a 2nd recessed part Substrate 61, 61 '... concave portion 100 ... image forming apparatus 101 ... toner accommodating portion 102 ... photoconductor 103 ... developing roller 104 ... supply roller 105 ... intermediate transfer roller 1062 secondary transfer roller 107 ... fixing portion 1071 ... pressure roller 1072 ... heating Roller 108 ... Charger 109 ... Line head

Claims (10)

A method for producing an optical component comprising a plurality of lenses and having a length in the longitudinal direction of 200 mm or more,
A substrate preparation step with a recess for preparing a substrate with a recess having a plurality of recesses in a shape corresponding to the shape of the lens on the surface;
Between the glass substrate mainly composed of a glass material and the substrate with recesses, a resin substrate installation step of installing a resin substrate mainly composed of a thermosetting resin that does not completely cure,
The resin substrate is heated while pressing the resin substrate with the glass substrate and the substrate with recesses, and the surface shape of the substrate with recesses is transferred to the resin substrate, and the transfer / bonding is performed to join the resin substrate and the glass substrate. A process for producing an optical component comprising the steps of:   The method of manufacturing an optical component according to claim 1, wherein the transfer / bonding step is performed in a reduced pressure atmosphere.   3. The method of manufacturing an optical component according to claim 1, wherein the resin substrate includes 5 to 20 wt% of a solvent that dissolves a monomer constituting the thermosetting resin.   The method of manufacturing an optical component according to claim 3, wherein the solvent is removed in the transfer / bonding step.   5. The method of manufacturing an optical component according to claim 1, wherein an absolute value of a difference between a refractive index of the glass substrate and a refractive index of the thermosetting resin is 0.2 or less.   The method for manufacturing an optical component according to claim 1, wherein a surface treatment for improving adhesion to the resin substrate is performed on a surface of the glass substrate to be bonded to the resin substrate. A second substrate-with-recess preparing step for preparing a second substrate with a recessed portion having a plurality of recessed portions having a shape corresponding to the shape of the lens on the surface;
Between the substrate with the second recess and the surface of the glass substrate opposite to the surface to which the resin substrate is bonded, a second material mainly composed of a thermosetting resin that does not completely cure. A second resin substrate installation step of installing a resin substrate;
In the transfer / bonding step, the second resin substrate is heated while being pressed between the glass substrate and the substrate with recesses, and the surface shape of the substrate with second recesses is transferred to the second resin substrate. A method for manufacturing an optical component according to any one of claims 1 to 6, wherein the second resin substrate and the glass substrate are bonded together.   An optical component manufactured by the method according to claim 1.   The optical component according to claim 8, wherein the plurality of lenses are arranged in a line.   An optical apparatus comprising the optical component according to claim 8.

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