Microfabrication with Very Low-Average Power of Green Light to Produce PDMS Microchips

Abstract

In this article, we show an alternative low-cost fabrication method to obtain poly(dimethyl siloxane) (PDMS) microfluidic devices. The proposed method allows the inscription of micron resolution channels on polystyrene (PS) surfaces, used as a mold for the wanted microchip’s production, by applying a high absorption coating film on the PS surface to ablate it with a focused low-power visible laser. The method allows for obtaining micro-resolution channels at powers between 2 and 10 mW and can realize any two-dimensional polymeric devices. The effect of the main processing parameters on the channel’s geometry is presented.

Keywords

• microfabrication
• polymeric microchip
• laser ablation
• PDMS devices
• low-cost fabrication tool