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Rapid, low-cost patterning of microstructures in polydimethylsiloxane via mask-less laser-machining

Rapid, low-cost patterning of microstructures in polydimethylsiloxane via mask-less laser-machining
Rapid, low-cost patterning of microstructures in polydimethylsiloxane via mask-less laser-machining
Polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS), due to its unique characteristics including biocompatibility, elasticity (which allows it to be flexibly moulded into the desired shape), optical transparency, and its low-cost provides a valuable advantage as a building material for the fabrication of microfluidics-based lab-on-chip devices and micro-contact printing [1, 2] moulds that allow parallel deposition of various materials on a target surface. A range of methodologies such as wet chemical etching, dry plasma etching, decal transfer microlithography, and bond-detach method have been utilised for creating patterns in PDMS. However, one of the most commonly used approaches for the prototyping of PDMS for such applications is soft-lithography. This involves the use of a clean-room based UV-lithography step that uses expensive custom-designed masks for the fabrication of a master-mould with structures that are then duplicated via stamping of this master to produce a secondary-mould in PDMS, which is then used for micro-contact printing applications. Even though this lithographic procedure can routinely produce high-resolution micron-scale structures, the procedure is time-consuming and expensive. Instead, for the production of the master, we propose as a cheap alternative to expensive UV-lithography, a mask-less laser-based procedure which does not rely on cleanroom access. Similar to the soft-lithographic procedure, the process is two-step and allows the creation of high-quality sub-micron to millimetre-scale features, in a wide range of materials, with the added advantage of being able to fabricate complex and differently-shaped structures adjacent to each other, in either a sequential or a single-step. This laser-based method (Fig.1) has been used to create two-dimensional surface relief patterns in a master-mould for replication into PDMS and subsequent contact-printing.
Sones, C.L.
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Katis, I.N.
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Mills, B.
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Feinäugle, M.
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Mosayyebi, Ali
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Butement, Jonathan
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Eason, R.W.
e38684c3-d18c-41b9-a4aa-def67283b020
Sones, C.L.
9de9d8ee-d394-46a5-80b7-e341c0eed0a8
Katis, I.N.
f92dfb8f-610d-4877-83f6-fd26a571df12
Mills, B.
05f1886e-96ef-420f-b856-4115f4ab36d0
Feinäugle, M.
3b15dc5b-ff52-4232-9632-b1be238a750c
Mosayyebi, Ali
ab9cf6da-58c4-4441-993b-7d03d5d3549a
Butement, Jonathan
581ce321-f1af-4a2f-870a-9d8d45133586
Eason, R.W.
e38684c3-d18c-41b9-a4aa-def67283b020

Sones, C.L., Katis, I.N., Mills, B., Feinäugle, M., Mosayyebi, Ali, Butement, Jonathan and Eason, R.W. (2013) Rapid, low-cost patterning of microstructures in polydimethylsiloxane via mask-less laser-machining. 2013 Conference on Lasers and Electro-Optics Europe (CLEO EUROPE/IQEC) and International Quantum Electronics Conference, , Munich, Germany. 12 - 16 May 2013. (doi:10.1109/CLEOE-IQEC.2013.6801592).

Record type: Conference or Workshop Item (Poster)

Abstract

Polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS), due to its unique characteristics including biocompatibility, elasticity (which allows it to be flexibly moulded into the desired shape), optical transparency, and its low-cost provides a valuable advantage as a building material for the fabrication of microfluidics-based lab-on-chip devices and micro-contact printing [1, 2] moulds that allow parallel deposition of various materials on a target surface. A range of methodologies such as wet chemical etching, dry plasma etching, decal transfer microlithography, and bond-detach method have been utilised for creating patterns in PDMS. However, one of the most commonly used approaches for the prototyping of PDMS for such applications is soft-lithography. This involves the use of a clean-room based UV-lithography step that uses expensive custom-designed masks for the fabrication of a master-mould with structures that are then duplicated via stamping of this master to produce a secondary-mould in PDMS, which is then used for micro-contact printing applications. Even though this lithographic procedure can routinely produce high-resolution micron-scale structures, the procedure is time-consuming and expensive. Instead, for the production of the master, we propose as a cheap alternative to expensive UV-lithography, a mask-less laser-based procedure which does not rely on cleanroom access. Similar to the soft-lithographic procedure, the process is two-step and allows the creation of high-quality sub-micron to millimetre-scale features, in a wide range of materials, with the added advantage of being able to fabricate complex and differently-shaped structures adjacent to each other, in either a sequential or a single-step. This laser-based method (Fig.1) has been used to create two-dimensional surface relief patterns in a master-mould for replication into PDMS and subsequent contact-printing.

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Published date: 2013
Additional Information: CM-P.25
Venue - Dates: 2013 Conference on Lasers and Electro-Optics Europe (CLEO EUROPE/IQEC) and International Quantum Electronics Conference, , Munich, Germany, 2013-05-12 - 2013-05-16
Organisations: Optoelectronics Research Centre

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 367789
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/367789
PURE UUID: 502c3b4c-b8f6-4035-8e59-cec4a2b3c693
ORCID for I.N. Katis: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0002-2016-557X
ORCID for B. Mills: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0002-1784-1012
ORCID for Ali Mosayyebi: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0003-0901-6546
ORCID for R.W. Eason: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0001-9704-2204

Catalogue record

Date deposited: 11 Sep 2014 12:58
Last modified: 28 Mar 2024 02:51

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Contributors

Author: C.L. Sones
Author: I.N. Katis ORCID iD
Author: B. Mills ORCID iD
Author: M. Feinäugle
Author: Ali Mosayyebi ORCID iD
Author: Jonathan Butement
Author: R.W. Eason ORCID iD

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