title: Print-to-Pattern Dry Film Photoresist Lithography.
abstract: Here we present facile microfabrication processes, referred to as Print-to-Pattern dry film photoresist (DFP) lithography, that utilize the combined advantages of wax printing and DFP to produce micropatterned substrates with high resolution over a large surface area in a non-cleanroom setting. The Print-to-Pattern methods can be performed in an out-of-cleanroom environment making microfabrication much more accessible to minimally equipped laboratories. Two different approaches employing either wax photomasks or wax etchmasks from a solid ink desktop printer have been demonstrated that allow the DFP to be processed in a negative tone or positive tone fashion, respectively, with resolutions of 100 μm. The effect of wax melting on resolution and as a bonding material was also characterized. In addition, solid ink printers have the capacity to pattern large areas with high resolution which was demonstrated by stacking DFP layers in a 50 mm × 50 mm woven pattern with 1 mm features. By using an office printer to generate the masking patterns, the mask designs can be easily altered in a graphic user interface to enable rapid prototyping.
authors.affiliation: Micro-Nano Innovations (MiNI) Laboratory, Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of California, Davis Davis, CA 95616 (USA).
authors.forename: Shaun P
authors.initials: SP
authors.lastname: Garland
authors.affiliation: Micro-Nano Innovations (MiNI) Laboratory, Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of California, Davis Davis, CA 95616 (USA).
authors.forename: Terrence M
authors.initials: TM
authors.lastname: Murphy
authors.affiliation: Micro-Nano Innovations (MiNI) Laboratory, Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of California, Davis Davis, CA 95616 (USA).
authors.forename: Tingrui
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Pan
keywords: DIY; Dry film photoresist; lithography; rapid prototyping; solid ink printing