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Microfluidic structure fabrication using soft lithography and laser micromachine | IEEE Conference Publication | IEEE Xplore

Microfluidic structure fabrication using soft lithography and laser micromachine


Abstract:

Microfluidic structures are devices that are able to control fluids in the scale of micrometer and have been widely adapted in the application of lab-on-chip. There are m...Show More

Abstract:

Microfluidic structures are devices that are able to control fluids in the scale of micrometer and have been widely adapted in the application of lab-on-chip. There are many methods of producing microfluidic structures, with soft lithography and laser micromachine are the commonly reported techniques. This paper reports on the experiments conducted to investigate the formation of microfluidic structure by means of soft lithography method and laser micromachine technique. From soft lithography process, UV exposure time of 60 seconds and exposure energy of 160mJ/cm2 are considered as optimal exposure condition in producing the microfluidic structure. By using laser micromachine technique, the best laser energy intensity used to produce the structure is 14 mJ. We found that both techniques have its pros and cons, with laser micromachine technique involve less fabrication time and chemicals, while soft lithography method produced smoother microfluidic surface structure.
Date of Conference: 11-12 August 2016
Date Added to IEEE Xplore: 05 January 2017
ISBN Information:
Conference Location: Phuket, Thailand

I. Introduction

Polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) have been utilized as an elastomic molding substrate for the replication of microstructures from photolithography process [1]. PDMS consist of two main parts, which is the base part and the agent required for curing process. When both component are mixed together and cured at a specific temperature, the viscous polymer liquid crosslinks to change into a solid elastic structure. The introduction of PDMS as a core material for microfluidic devices as well as automated imaging techniques has made it possible to create miniature systems and devices well-suited for lab-on-chip application. Several unique properties of microfluidic devices that make them compatible as biomedical research tools are that: i) they require simple and cheap microfabrication techniques; ii) the use of transparent materials i.e. PDMS enables light transmission for optical imaging; iii) microfluidic devices has the ability to manipulate small amounts of liquids in small dimensions; iv) microfluidic devices also has the scalability to handle a large population of biological samples in high-throughput fashion; v) it is possible to integrate microfluidic devices with other available technology. A number of pioneering applications using microfluidic devices technology have been published [2]–[6]. Microfluidic devices fabrication process includes several steps of photolithography and chemical procedure. The microfluidic structure is created on a substrate, and after that the structure created will act as a mold and will be replicated by means of soft lithography technique. Negative photoresist such as SU-8 is normally used to produce the master mold. The dimension of the structure produced using soft lithography range from 30 nm to a couple hundred microns.

Process flow of soft lithography process and laser micromachine technique

References

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