A continuous tilting of micromolds for fabricating polymeric microstructures in microinjection.
We demonstrate a practical design and integration of multidirectional tilted UV lithography and microinjection molding for microstructure-based microfluidic devices. The previously reported undercut (or T-profile) problem of photoresist causes the imperfect mirror image duplication of the microstructures to the Ni mold. This issue inevitably leads to the unstable molds in the production of microstructure-based microfluidic devices. This study presents a simple route for the successful fabrication of microstructure-based microfluidic devices by multidirectional tilted UV lithography. By changing slope angles of microstructures through tilting the chuck during the UV exposure, the slope angles (up to 30°) around the microstructures allow the effective prevention of the undercut problems of photoresist and facilitate easy releasing of the device with high durability. This technique can be easily used for the production of the microstructure-based microfluidic devices in microanalysis and lab-on-chip applications.
Department of Chemical Engineering, Chungnam National University, 220 Gung-dong, Yuseong-gu, Daejeon 305-764, Republic of Korea. rhadum@cnu.ac.kr.
Byeong Il
BI
Kim
Kyoung G
KG
Lee
Tae Jae
TJ
Lee
Bong Gill
BG
Choi
Jung Yuon
JY
Park
Chi Young
CY
Jung
Chang-Soo
CS
Lee
Seok Jae
SJ
Lee
D046210:Microfluidic Analytical Techniques / Q000295:instrumentation*; D008845:Microinjections / Q000295:instrumentation*; D009532:Nickel / Q000737:chemistry; D011108:Polymers / Q000737:chemistry*; D013696:Temperature; D014466:Ultraviolet Rays
D011108:Polymers; D009532:Nickel