Nonlithographic Fabrication of Microfluidic Devices

Vullev, Valentine I.; Wan, Jiandi; Heinrich, Volkmar; Landsman, Pavel; Bower, Paul E.; Xia, Bing; Millare, Brent; Jones, Guilford

doi:10.1021/ja061776o

Cited by 65 publications

(122 citation statements)

References 25 publications

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“…5 While Lago et al 6 introduced a way to circumvent the height limitation of single-layer ink by printing up to four times using a thermal toner transfer method onto a glass substrate, the maximum height obtained with this approach was 25 mm. Vullev et al 7 demonstrated a non-lithographic fabrication approach of microfluidic devices by printing positive-relief masters with a laser-jet printer for detecting bacterial spores; the height of the channels, which is likewise dependent on the height of the ink, is limited to between 5 and 9 mm. To achieve deep channels, McDonald et al 8 introduced the use of solid object printing (SOP) to make PDMS molds in thermoplastics.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Shrinky-Dink microfluidics: rapid generation of deep and rounded patterns

et al. 2008

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We present a rapid and non-photolithographic approach to microfluidic pattern generation by leveraging the inherent shrinkage properties of biaxially oriented polystyrene thermoplastic sheets. This novel approach yields channels deep enough for mammalian cell assays, with demonstrated heights up to 80 mm. Moreover, we can consistently and easily achieve rounded channels, multi-height channels, and channels as thin as 65 mm in width. Finally, we demonstrate the utility of this simple microfabrication approach by fabricating a functional gradient generator. The whole process-from device design conception to working device-can be completed within minutes.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Shrinky-Dink microfluidics: rapid generation of deep and rounded patterns

et al. 2008

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“…Low reagent and power consumption, cost-efficient fabrication, and relatively short operating time periods are some of the key advantages of microfluidic devices (lFDs) (Dittrich and Manz 2006;Whitesides 2006;Thomas et al 2010b). PDMS is a widely used material for fabricating lFDs (Gong and Wen 2009;Zhou et al 2010;Vullev et al 2006; Thomas et al 2010a). Despite its shortcomings, such as porosity (Li et al 2009;Mehta et al 2009;Chueh et al 2007;Shin et al 2003) and susceptibility to a broad range of organic solvents (Lee et al 2003), PDMS is biocompatible (Belanger and Marois 2001;Zhuang et al 2007) and allows for expedient and facile reproduction of features with nanometer precision that are essential for lFDs (Gates 2005;Cong and Pan 2008).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Dependence of the quality of adhesion between poly(dimethylsiloxane) and glass surfaces on the composition of the oxidizing plasma

Chau

Millare

Lin

et al. 2010

Microfluid Nanofluid

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Controlled surface oxidation of polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) is essential for permanent adhesion between device components composed of this elastomer. The permanent adhesion between such microdevice components results from covalent crosslinking across the interfaces between PDMS and other silica-based materials, such as glass, quartz, and PDMS. Optimal duration and conditions of oxidation, attained via treatments with oxygen-containing plasma, are crucial for microfabrication procedures with quantitative yields. While insufficient PDMS oxidation does not provide high enough surface density of siloxyl groups for cross-interface linking, overoxidation of PDMS yields rough silica surface layers that prevent the adhesion between flat substrates. Ideally, for a set of plasma conditions, the range of treatment durations producing permanent adhesion should be as broad as possible: i.e., the surface oxidation of PDMS sufficient for irreversible binding has to complete significantly before the effects of overoxidation become apparent. Such a requirement assures that relatively small fluctuations in the treatment conditions will not result in over-or under-oxidation and, hence, will not compromise the yields of the fabrication procedures. We examined the dependence of the quality of adhesion (QA) between plasma-treated PDMS and glass substrates on the composition of the oxygen-containing plasma and on the radio frequency (RF) of the plasma generator. We observed that plasma generated at megahertz RF provided superior conditions than kilohertz RF. Concurrently, an increase in the oxygen content of binary gas mixtures, used for the plasma, broadened the treatment durations that afford superior QA.

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“…The limitations of PAP fabrication is set by the resolution of the printer and properties of the printing materials and substrate [3]. References [4]- [6] used laserjet printers while reference [7] used solid-wax printer for producing microchannels. On the other hand, inkjet printing is still largely unexplored despite its lower cost among different types of printers, having a disadvantage of producing relief features with low height.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Low-Cost Fabrication of a PDMS Microchannel Using an Improved Print-and-Peel (PAP) Method

Yap¹,

Sanglay²,

Matuba³

et al. 2017

IJCEA

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Abstract-Microfluidics involves fluid dynamics, controlled fluid manipulations, and design of devices or systems in microchannels with typical dimensions of 10 to 200 micrometers. The conventional fabrication method of polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) microchannels is soft lithography, which involves an expensive process for the preparation of master. The study aims to fabricate microchannels using print-and-peel (PAP) method for simple and low-cost construction of microfluidic systems. Based on the PAP method, a PDMS microchannel is developed using a master based on inkjet ink relief printed on paper. The study improves on the existing methodologies for PAP method by devising a technique called "printing-over", which is reprinting of the same pattern over itself at a high precision by modifying the printing process. This can produce irregularly-shaped molds with dimensions that can reach up to 200 micrometer width and 14.8 micrometer height, with aspect ratio equal to 0.07. Moreover, the aspect ratio is found to increase proportionally with number of printing-over runs. The microchannel produced from the mold has dimensions of 155 by 10 micrometers with aspect ratio of 0.06. With a rough cost analysis, the capital and variable costs of the PAP inkjet method are significantly lower than that of photolithography.Index Terms-Low-cost microfluidics, polydimethylsiloxane, print-and-peel method, inkjet printing. I. INTRODUCTIONMicrofluidics is the science that deals with the flow of liquids inside micrometer-size channels. This technology has found applications in various areas including biomedical engineering, cell biology, drug screening, chemical reaction engineering, and electrochemistry. While the main advantage of microfluidics is the reduction of costs by reducing fluid volumes, the conventional fabrication process requires specialized equipment in laboratories; and the material used, usually silicon chips, can be expensive to produce. Inducing controlled fluid flows in microfluidic channels is done using special equipment called microsyringe pumps, but these are also too expensive and are unavailable locally. The high costs associated with the fabrication of microfluidics consequently limits accessibility and thus, hinders its development especially in low-resource settings.The conventional fabrication method of polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) microchannels is soft lithography, which involves an expensive process for the Manuscript received October 8, 2016; revised January 18, 2017. This work was supported in part by the UP Engineering Research and Development Foundation, Inc. (ERDFI) and the College of Engineering, University of the Philippines Diliman.The authors are with University of the Philippines Diliman, Quezon City 1101, Philippines (e-mail: kristian.yap@gmail.com). preparation of master called photolithography. Photolithography is a patterning process where light is used to transfer a pattern from a mask to a photosensitive polymer layer, and this resulting pattern can either be etched into the underlying su...

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Nonlithographic Fabrication of Microfluidic Devices

Cited by 65 publications

References 25 publications

Shrinky-Dink microfluidics: rapid generation of deep and rounded patterns

Shrinky-Dink microfluidics: rapid generation of deep and rounded patterns

Dependence of the quality of adhesion between poly(dimethylsiloxane) and glass surfaces on the composition of the oxidizing plasma

Low-Cost Fabrication of a PDMS Microchannel Using an Improved Print-and-Peel (PAP) Method

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