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Title: Microfabrication of plastic-PDMS microfluidic devices using polyimide release layer and selective adhesive bonding

Journal Article · · Journal of Micromechanics and Microengineering. Structures, Devices and Systems
 [1];  [2];  [3];  [2]
  1. Stony Brook Univ., NY (United States)
  2. Virginia Polytechnic Inst. and State Univ. (Virginia Tech), Blacksburg, VA (United States)
  3. Brookhaven National Lab. (BNL), Upton, NY (United States)
+ Show Author Affiliations

In this study, we present an improved method to bond poly(dimethylsiloxane) (PDMS) with polyimide (PI) to develop flexible substrate microfluidic devices. The PI film was separately fabricated on a silicon wafer by spin coating followed by thermal treatment to avoid surface unevenness of the flexible substrate. In this way, we could also integrate flexible substrate into standard micro-electromechanical systems (MEMS) fabrication. Meanwhile, the adhesive epoxy was selectively transferred to the PDMS microfluidic device by a stamp-and-stick method to avoid epoxy clogging the microfluidic channels. To spread out the epoxy evenly on the transferring substrate, we used superhydrophilic vanadium oxide film coated glass as the transferring substrate. After the bonding process, the flexible substrate could easily be peeled off from the rigid substrate. Contact angle measurement was used to characterize the hydrophicity of the vanadium oxide film. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy analysis was conducted to study the surface of the epoxy. We further evaluated the bonding quality by peeling tests, which showed a maximum bonding strength of 100 kPa. By injecting with black ink, the plastic microfluidic device was confirmed to be well bonded with no leakage for a day under 1 atm. Finally, this proposed versatile method could bond the microfluidic device and plastic substrate together and be applied in the fabrication of some biosensors and lab-on-a-chip systems.

Research Organization:
Virginia Polytechnic Inst. and State Univ. (Virginia Tech), Blacksburg, VA (United States); Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL), Upton, NY (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC); National Science Foundation (NSF); AbbVie Inc. (United States)
Grant/Contract Number:
SC0012704; IDBR-1530508
OSTI ID:
1392268
Report Number(s):
BNL-114324-2017-JA; KC0403020
Journal Information:
Journal of Micromechanics and Microengineering. Structures, Devices and Systems, Vol. 27, Issue 5; ISSN 0960-1317
Publisher:
IOP PublishingCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 13 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

References (18)

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An ultra-thin PDMS membrane as a bio/micro–nano interface: fabrication and characterization journal May 2007
An effective PDMS microfluidic chip for chemiluminescence detection of cobalt (II) in water journal June 2012
Selective stamp bonding of PDMS microfluidic devices to polymer substrates for biological applications journal April 2013
A facile route for irreversible bonding of plastic-PDMS hybrid microdevices at room temperature journal January 2010
Simple room temperature bonding of thermoplastics and poly(dimethylsiloxane) journal January 2011
Replica multichannel polymer chips with a network of sacrificial channels sealed by adhesive printing method journal January 2005
A flexible electrochemical micro lab-on-chip: application to the detection of interleukin-10 journal April 2016
Micro-differential scanning calorimeter for liquid biological samples journal October 2016
Poly(pyrrole) microwires fabrication process on flexible thermoplastics polymers: Application as a biosensing material journal December 2015
WEAR BEHAVIOR OF NANOSTRUCTURED HYPOEUTECTIC Fe–B ALLOY journal January 2017
Poly(dimethylsiloxane)-polyimide blends in the formation of thick polyimide films journal December 2006
Lab-on-a-Foil: microfluidics on thin and flexible films journal January 2010
Optimization of Silica Silanization by 3-Aminopropyltriethoxysilane journal December 2006
Development of a flexible microfluidic system based on a simple and reproducible sealing process between polymers and poly(dimethylsiloxane) journal November 2013
Stamp-and-stick room-temperature bonding technique for microdevices journal April 2005
Light-induced amphiphilic surfaces journal July 1997
Flexible substrate and release layer for flexible MEMS devices
  • Ahmed, Moinuddin; Butler, Donald P.
  • Journal of Vacuum Science & Technology B, Nanotechnology and Microelectronics: Materials, Processing, Measurement, and Phenomena, Vol. 31, Issue 5 https://doi.org/10.1116/1.4816938
journal September 2013

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Nanocalorimeters for biomolecular analysis and cell metabolism monitoring journal January 2020

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Related Subjects

42 ENGINEERING
microfluidic device
flexible substrate
polyimide (PI)
polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS)
adhesive bonding
superhydrophilic
stamp-and-stick
Center for Functional Nanomaterials