Exploiting the oxygen inhibitory effect on UV curing in microfabrication: a modified lithography technique

PloS One
Jafar Alvankarian, Burhanuddin Yeop Majlis

Abstract

Rapid prototyping (RP) of microfluidic channels in liquid photopolymers using standard lithography (SL) involves multiple deposition steps and curing by ultraviolet (UV) light for the construction of a microstructure layer. In this work, the conflicting effect of oxygen diffusion and UV curing of liquid polyurethane methacrylate (PUMA) is investigated in microfabrication and utilized to reduce the deposition steps and to obtain a monolithic product. The conventional fabrication process is altered to control for the best use of the oxygen presence in polymerization. A novel and modified lithography technique is introduced in which a single step of PUMA coating and two steps of UV exposure are used to create a microchannel. The first exposure is maskless and incorporates oxygen diffusion into PUMA for inhibition of the polymerization of a thin layer from the top surface while the UV rays penetrate the photopolymer. The second exposure is for transferring the patterns of the microfluidic channels from the contact photomask onto the uncured material. The UV curing of PUMA as the main substrate in the presence of oxygen is characterized analytically and experimentally. A few typical elastomeric microstructures are manufactured. It i...Continue Reading

References

Nov 3, 2004·Langmuir : the ACS Journal of Surfaces and Colloids·João T CabralJack F Douglas
Jan 10, 2014·Biomicrofluidics·Jafar AlvankarianBurhanuddin Yeop Majlis

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BETA
scanning electron microscopy

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