PDMS-based microfluidic devices using commoditized PCBs as masters with no specialized equipment required

Tu, Jing; Qiao, Yi; Feng, Haiqing; Li, Junji; Fu, Jiye; Liang, Fupeng; Zhang, Lu

doi:10.1039/c7ra03899b

Cited by 14 publications

(11 citation statements)

References 39 publications

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“…Printed Circuit Board based masters for microfluidic devices is a cost-effective alternative for master fabrication, and it does not require any cleanroom facility 29,30 and hence, most suited to the small research groups who do not have access to the cleanroom facility. The thickness of copper on copper clad laminate decides the height of the microfluidic channel.…”

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confidence: 99%

Design and Fabrication of Low-cost Microfluidic Channel for Biomedical Application

Tiwari

Bhat

Mahato

2020

Sci Rep

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This paper presents the design, simulation and low-cost fabrication of microfluidic channel for biomedical application. Channel is fabricated using soft lithography technique. Printed Circuit Board (PCB) is used to make the master for the channel. Channel pattern is transferred on PCB plate using toner transfer technique followed by ferric chloride etching. Paper also discusses, the issues involved in PCB based master fabrication and their viable solutions. Glass is used as substrate material and the channel is made of Sylgard 184 Polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS). Channel is interfaced with a syringe pump to observe the fluid flow. To predict the behavior of the channel, FEM simulation is performed using COMSOL Multiphysics 5.2a. There is a good match between the theoretical, simulation and test results. Finally, to test the biocompatibility of the channel, genomic DNA is passed through the channel and gel electrophoresis analysis is performed. Microfluidics deals with the study of devices that can handle the very small amount of liquid down to femtoliter with the help of small channels and reservoirs. The dimensions of microfluidic devices range from ten to hundreds of micrometers 1-5. These devices have promising applications in biological analysis 6-9 chemical analysis 10 , optical communication 11 , cooling of Integrated Circuits (ICs) 12 , and many more. In microfluidics, scaling down the device dimensions to microscale reduces the amount of sample and reagents required to perform the assay, resulting in a huge saving in cost and the reduction in the amount of waste produced. Due to low fabrication cost, it can easily be disposed-off. This also reduces the risk of cross-contamination between the tests. The portable analysis devices that can perform the necessary analytical tests outside the central facility at the remote location or in the vicinity of the patient have a huge demand in the biomedical industry. Performing the assay at the location of patient results in real-time test data, which can help medical experts to intervene timely, and this can improve the clinical outcome of the patient 13-17. Fabrication of low-cost sensors, transducers, and biomedical analysis devices were possible due to advances in Micro Electro Mechanical Systems (MEMS) technology. In this technology there are two popular fabrication approaches, first uses silicon and the second, polymers 18-20. Polymer-based MEMS devices widely used in the biomedical industry due to advantages it offers such as biocompatibility, ease of fabrication with the minimum facility, low-cost, ease of disposal and a minimal volume of sample and reagents requirement 9,21,22. These polymer-based devices are also known as BioMEMS or microfluidic devices 23. The microfluidic analysis chip, which enables the complete biomedical analysis without the external intervention, are called micro Total Analysis Systems (μTAS) and are very useful for the Point-of-Care (POC) applications 15. Microchannels, microvalves, micropumps, and micromixtures are few popular examples ...

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confidence: 99%

Design and Fabrication of Low-cost Microfluidic Channel for Biomedical Application

Tiwari

Bhat

Mahato

2020

Sci Rep

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“…The PCB copper also allows pre-release electric stimulations ( e.g ., corona charging or electrospinning) or impedance-based ( e.g ., capacitive) characterizations of PDMS which, as an example, we have used for evaluating the ability to fabricate very thin, but uniform and robust devices even on large areas. Since PCBs are the standard substrates for electronics and can also be used as components or tools for fabricating micro–nanosystems ( e.g ., lab-on-chip or masters for PDMS microfluidic devices), thin PDMS-on-sacrificial-PCB devices may also be easier to be interconnected with electronics and other PCB micro–nanosystems. The reported sacrificial PCB strategy, though extraordinarily simple, can prove useful for important applications, such as epidermal electronics, flexible electronics, triboelectric nanogenerators, tissue engineering, and so on.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Thin PDMS-on-Sacrificial-PCB Devices

Pezzilli

Prestopino

Montoya

et al. 2022

ACS Appl. Electron. Mater.

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Poly(dimethylsiloxane) (PDMS) devices must often be so thin (e.g., <100 μm) and, therefore, so fragile that their mechanical release becomes challenging. As a simple solution, PDMS devices are frequently released by dissolving an underlying sacrificial resist. However, there may be several other issues, including temperature gradients during fabrication, electrical characterization, handling, co-integration with electronics, fabrication time, and cost. Here, we show that conventional printed circuit boards (PCBs) can be ideal sacrificial carriers, which can also perform useful functions during fabrication. The thick (e.g., 35 μm) and thermally conductive PCB copper layer behaves as an excellent heat spreading plate during temperature-sensitive process steps (e.g., PDMS curing and sintering of conductive inks) and enables pre-release electrical stimulations and characterizations of PDMS, which may help during process development. Experiments and finite element method (FEM) simulations confirm that the PCB copper layer can improve temperature uniformity. The UV-protecting film attached to the PCB can be cut to constitute a frame for easy handling. The PCB photoresist enables the straightforward release of PDMS by acetone, which is among the most environmentally friendly chemicals. Contacts can be opened by a simple bump-cut-peel strategy. As proofs of concept, we demonstrate pre-release capacitive characterization of PDMS for evaluating the ability to fabricate thin, but uniform and robust devices and post-release resistive characterization of stretchable strain sensor or interconnects encapsulated in PDMS. The proposed approach is simple, cheap, and environmentally friendly, can improve temperature uniformity throughout the pre-release process steps, enables pre-release electrical characterizations, can simplify co-integration with electronics and can be generalized to other elastomers.

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“…The structured PDMS was then bonded with pre-heated PDMS substrates as described previously. 23 The temperature of the PDMS chips was kept above 60 °C until the electrode channels were filled with melted gallium indium alloy (52 °C gallium indium alloy, Abond Mechatronics Corp., Shandong, China). PTFE (polytetrafluoroethylene) tubes (id.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

An efficient strategy for a controllable droplet merging system for digital analysis

Qiao

Yang

et al. 2018

RSC Adv.

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Droplet merging is an important part of droplet manipulation approaches. Droplet merging methods with expansions inside channels can merge droplets in pairs through simple structures. However, they have a low success rate of merging under unstable fluidic conditions since the one-to-one pairing strategy is sensitive to fluctuation. This study presents a one-to-a-cluster pairing strategy to improve the success rate of merging under fluctuation. The one-to-a-cluster method was suitable for digital analysis and droplet MDA was performed in merged droplets successfully.

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PDMS-based microfluidic devices using commoditized PCBs as masters with no specialized equipment required

Abstract: A simple, convenient and reliable approach used to prepare general polymer PDMS-based microfluidic devices with a minimal requirement for equipment.

Cited by 14 publications

References 39 publications

Design and Fabrication of Low-cost Microfluidic Channel for Biomedical Application

Design and Fabrication of Low-cost Microfluidic Channel for Biomedical Application

Thin PDMS-on-Sacrificial-PCB Devices

An efficient strategy for a controllable droplet merging system for digital analysis

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