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Fabrication of microfluidic chip using micro‐hot embossing with micro electrical discharge machining mold
Author(s) -
Huang MaoSuan,
Chiang YuhChyun,
Lin ShengChieh,
Cheng HsinChung,
Huang ChiungFang,
Shen YungKang,
Lin Yi
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
polymers for advanced technologies
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.61
H-Index - 90
eISSN - 1099-1581
pISSN - 1042-7147
DOI - 10.1002/pat.1823
Subject(s) - embossing , materials science , mold , microfluidics , molding (decorative) , microchannel , machining , chip , surface roughness , composite material , insert (composites) , replication (statistics) , fabrication , nanotechnology , metallurgy , medicine , statistics , alternative medicine , mathematics , engineering , pathology , electrical engineering
This study develops an improved method for generating aluminum mold inserts used in the replication of polymer‐based microfluidic chip. Since molding masters that are suitable for microfluidic chip replication must have features whose dimensions are of the order of tens to hundreds of microns, micro electrical discharge machining is employed herein to fabricate an aluminum mold insert of a microfluidic chip. The width and depth of the aluminum mold insert for the microfluidic chip are 61.50 and 49.61 µm, respectively. The surface roughness values of the microchannel and the sample reservoir in aluminum mold insert for the microfluidic chip are 53.9 and 34.3 nm, respectively. PMMA material is adopted as the molded microfluidic chip that is produced by micro‐hot embossing molding. The PMMA material can replicate the microchannel and sample reservoir very well when the aluminum mold insert is used in micro‐hot embossing molding. The results indicate that the most important parameter in the replication of molded microfluidic chip is the embossing pressure, which is also the most important parameter in determining the surface roughness of the molded microfluidic chip. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.