High numerical aperture imaging systems formed by integrating bionic artificial compound eyes on a CMOS sensor

Abstract

The compound eyes of natural insects endowed with the merits of a wide field of view (FOV), high sensitivity, and detection of moving targets, have aroused extensive concern. In this work, a large-scale artificial compound eye is fabricated by a high-efficiency and low-cost strategy that involves the combination of the thermal reflow method and pressure deformation. About 30,000 ommatidia are evenly distributed on the surface of a hemisphere with an ultralow surface roughness and a large numerical aperture ( NA ) of 0.66. Moreover, the FOV of the artificial compound eye investigated is about 120°. The collaboration of the compound eye and CMOS sensor makes the ommatidia capturing multiple images of human organs enabled. This micro-based imaging system has considerable potential in integrated pinhole cameras, medical endoscopes, and drone navigation.