Patent ID: 7842915

Claim:
A method of fabricating optical devices for use in microelectronic imagers, each imager having an imaging unit including a first substrate and an image sensor on the first substrate, the first substrate being a semiconductive material, and the method comprising: providing a second substrate having a first side, a second side, and a coefficient of thermal expansion at least approximately the same as that of the first substrate; etching a plurality of depressions in the first side of the second substrate, wherein individual depressions have a contour defining a lens curvature; depositing an optics material layer onto the first side of the second substrate to fill the depressions; removing an upper portion of the optics material layer to form lenses defined by portions of the optics material layer remaining in the depressions; and etching compartments into the second side of the second substrate, wherein the compartments are aligned with corresponding lenses and are configured to contain the imager sensors.