A fast and simple method to fabricate circular microchannels in polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS)

A coating of liquid PDMS is applied on the walls of square microchannels by introducing a pressurized air stream inside microchannels filled with PDMS. Surface tension of the liquid PDMS makes the coating take a circular cross section which is preserved by baking the device to cure the coated layer. Diameters ranging from a few to few hundred micrometers were achieved. Different coating conditions were systematically tested and design curves are reported to choose appropriate coating conditions for obtaining a desired diameter.

[1]  Liwei Lin,et al.  Surface micromachined glass and polysilicon microchannels using MUMPs for BioMEMS applications , 2004 .

[2]  G. Taylor Deposition of a viscous fluid on the wall of a tube , 1961, Journal of Fluid Mechanics.

[3]  Luke P. Lee,et al.  Mammalian electrophysiology on a microfluidic platform. , 2005, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America.

[4]  Shan-hui Hsu,et al.  Microvessel scaffold with circular microchannels by photoresist melting , 2007, Biomedical microdevices.

[5]  S. Quake,et al.  Monolithic microfabricated valves and pumps by multilayer soft lithography. , 2000, Science.

[6]  P. Tabeling,et al.  An experimental study of the Saffman-Taylor instability , 1987, Journal of Fluid Mechanics.

[7]  K. Markides,et al.  Poly(dimethylsiloxane)-based microchip for two-dimensional solid-phase extraction-capillary electrophoresis with an integrated electrospray emitter tip. , 2005, Analytical chemistry.

[8]  D. Chiu,et al.  Selective encapsulation of single cells and subcellular organelles into picoliter- and femtoliter-volume droplets. , 2005, Analytical chemistry.

[9]  Luke P. Lee,et al.  Soft-state biomicrofluidic pulse generator for single cell analysis , 2006 .

[10]  C. Bliss,et al.  Rapid fabrication of a microfluidic device with integrated optical waveguides for DNA fragment analysis. , 2007, Lab on a chip.

[11]  Luke P. Lee,et al.  A single cell electroporation chip. , 2005, Lab on a chip.

[12]  W. Kolb,et al.  Coating the inside of a capillary of square cross section , 1991 .

[13]  G. Whitesides,et al.  Rapid Prototyping of Microfluidic Systems in Poly(dimethylsiloxane). , 1998, Analytical chemistry.

[14]  Q. Ren,et al.  A Rapid and Low-Cost Procedure for Fabrication of Glass Microfluidic Devices , 2007, Journal of Microelectromechanical Systems.

[15]  Michael L Shuler,et al.  Fabrication of a multiple-diameter branched network of microvascular channels with semi-circular cross-sections using xenon difluoride etching , 2008, Biomedical microdevices.

[16]  C. Simmons,et al.  Matrix-dependent adhesion of vascular and valvular endothelial cells in microfluidic channels. , 2007, Lab on a chip.

[17]  Mohamed Abdelgawad,et al.  Soft lithography: masters on demand. , 2008, Lab on a chip.

[18]  L. Yobas,et al.  Microfluidic integration of substantially round glass capillaries for lateral patch clamping on chip. , 2007, Lab on a chip.

[19]  Luke P. Lee,et al.  Open-access microfluidic patch-clamp array with raised lateral cell trapping sites. , 2006, Lab on a chip.

[20]  Pierre Thibault,et al.  Integrated microfluidic device for mass spectrometry-based proteomics and its application to biomarker discovery programs. , 2005, Analytical chemistry.

[21]  Dongqing Li Electrokinetics in Microfluidics , 2004 .

[22]  Byeong Kwon Ju,et al.  Fabrication of round channels using the surface tension of PDMS and its application to a 3D serpentine mixer , 2007 .

[23]  Julien Reboud,et al.  Lateral patch-clamping in a standard 1536-well microplate format. , 2010, Lab on a chip.

[24]  Dong-Pyo Kim,et al.  Facile single step fabrication of microchannels with varying size. , 2009, Lab on a chip.

[25]  Ahmad S. Khalil,et al.  Functional endothelialized microvascular networks with circular cross-sections in a tissue culture substrate , 2010, Biomedical microdevices.

[26]  R. Hochmuth,et al.  Micropipette aspiration of living cells. , 2000, Journal of biomechanics.

[27]  D. Beebe,et al.  PDMS bonding by means of a portable, low-cost corona system. , 2006, Lab on a chip.

[28]  Gas displacing liquids from non-circular tubes: high capillary number flow of a shear-thinning liquid , 2005 .

[29]  A. Abate,et al.  Glass coating for PDMS microfluidic channels by sol-gel methods. , 2008, Lab on a chip.

[30]  M. A. Northrup,et al.  Functional integration of PCR amplification and capillary electrophoresis in a microfabricated DNA analysis device. , 1996, Analytical chemistry.

[31]  Shuichi Takayama,et al.  Rapid Prototyping of Microstructures with Bell‐Shaped Cross‐Sections and Its Application to Deformation‐Based Microfluidic Valves , 2004 .

[32]  Z. Fan,et al.  Electrical Property of ZnO Nanowire Field-Effect Transistor Characterized with a Scanning Probe , 2005 .

[33]  Levent Yobas,et al.  Self-sealed circular channels for micro-fluidics , 2008 .

[34]  A. Ghatak,et al.  Embedded template-assisted fabrication of complex microchannels in PDMS and design of a microfluidic adhesive. , 2006, Langmuir : the ACS journal of surfaces and colloids.

[35]  D. Chiu,et al.  Rapid prototyping of glass microchannels , 2003 .

[36]  Tae Jin Kim,et al.  A rapid and simple fabrication method for 3-dimensional circular microfluidic channel using metal wire removal process , 2010 .

[37]  P. Laporta,et al.  Fabrication of long microchannels with circular cross section using astigmatically shaped femtosecond laser pulses and chemical etching , 2006 .

[38]  Luke P. Lee,et al.  Microfluidic application-specific integrated device for monitoring direct cell-cell communication via gap junctions between individual cell pairs , 2005 .

[39]  Kunbao Cai,et al.  PDMS microchannel fabrication technique based on microwire-molding , 2008 .

[40]  David Quéré,et al.  Quick deposition of a fluid on the wall of a tube , 2000 .

[41]  Luke P. Lee,et al.  Integrated multiple patch-clamp array chip via lateral cell trapping junctions , 2004 .

[42]  Mark Cronin-Golomb,et al.  Simple fabrication technique for rapid prototyping of seamless cylindrical microchannels in polymer substrates. , 2007, The Review of scientific instruments.

[43]  A. Berg,et al.  Etching technology for chromatography microchannels , 1997 .

[44]  G. Whitesides,et al.  Solvent compatibility of poly(dimethylsiloxane)-based microfluidic devices. , 2003, Analytical chemistry.

[45]  David J Beebe,et al.  Ultra rapid prototyping of microfluidic systems using liquid phase photopolymerization. , 2002, Lab on a chip.