Premium
Microfluidic Chips for Life Sciences—A Comparison of Low Entry Manufacturing Technologies
Author(s) -
Grösche Maximilian,
Zoheir Ahmed E.,
Stegmaier Johannes,
Mikut Ralf,
Mager Dario,
Korvink Jan G.,
Rabe Kersten S.,
Niemeyer Christof M.
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
small
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.785
H-Index - 236
eISSN - 1613-6829
pISSN - 1613-6810
DOI - 10.1002/smll.201901956
Subject(s) - stereolithography , microfluidics , rapid prototyping , nanotechnology , fused deposition modeling , computer science , process engineering , materials science , 3d printing , biochemical engineering , engineering , composite material
Microfluidic water‐in‐oil droplets are a versatile tool for biological and biochemical applications due to the advantages of extremely small monodisperse reaction vessels in the pL–nL range. A key factor for the successful dissemination of this technology to life science laboratory users is the ability to produce microfluidic droplet generators and related accessories by low‐entry barrier methods, which enable rapid prototyping and manufacturing of devices with low instrument and material costs. The direct, experimental side‐by‐side comparison of three commonly used additive manufacturing (AM) methods, namely fused deposition modeling (FDM), inkjet printing (InkJ), and stereolithography (SLA), is reported. As a benchmark, micromilling (MM) is used as an established method. To demonstrate which of these methods can be easily applied by the non‐expert to realize applications in topical fields of biochemistry and microbiology, the methods are evaluated with regard to their limits for the minimum structure resolution in all three spatial directions. The suitability of functional SLA and MM chips to replace classic SU‐8 prototypes is demonstrated on the basis of representative application cases.