SUMMARY

A new approach for polymer microfabrication is proposed in this research. Stereolithography is a process in which liquid photopolymer resin is cured in presence of light. In the proposed Exposure Controlled Projection Lithography (ECPL) process, incident radiation, patterned by a dynamic mask, passes through a transparent substrate to cure photopolymer resin. By controlling the amount of exposure, the height field of the cured film can be controlled. In this research, a process plan will be developed which will incorporate the resin cure kinetics and the system optics in order to create a film of the desired geometry on a flat or curved substrate. Primarily, this research shall seek to address the following two major areas: - Modeling complex resin cure behavior using simple, but efficient models to predict cured shape. A resin response model will be developed to be used for process planning purposes. - Developing a solution algorithm to optimize multiple parameters, so that given the final cure shape, the initial manufacturing parameters could be estimated