Glass microstructures manufactured by room temperature molding

We show that a process based on sol-gel chemistry can produce silica glass microstructures which replicate the mold used up to at least the micron scale. This technology is characterized by the thermomechanical ideal isotropy of the intermediates produced. The resulting glass component reproduces the theoretical shape with a precision of at least up to 1/1000. The technique is used to produce an array of pyramids. The array is used in transmission, noteworthy is the fact that the material as such has at least 85% optical transparency in the whole spectral range from 185nm up to 3200nm, the impurities being mainly at the ppb level or below. The glass optical properties can be adjusted by doping. (C) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.