Microsharp on a roll

A UK company has recently installed a machine that is able to manufacture precision micro-structured optical film in a continuous roll-to-roll 'printing' process.

claims that its optical film unit in Oxfordshire has capabilities that are unique in Europe.

The company's marketing business development director David Brogden said Microsharp is now working on developing, among other products, films for light-emitting polymers, lightweight Fresnel lens structures for solar concentrators and nanostructured self-cleaning films.

'Previously, if companies had required circuit-structured films to be developed, they would have had difficulty doing that in Europe because most of it is mass produced in Asia,' he said.

Brogden said that unlike the large machines in Asia, Microsharp's is relatively small and flexible, which means it can work with specialist companies in industries such as aerospace on developing specific structures required for a variety of applications.

'It can produce structures with depths of between two and 75 microns on substrates with a thickness of between 25 and 250 microns at a speed of 15m/min,' he said.