大面积纳米压印技术及其器件应用

大面积纳米压印技术是一种利用模板压印方法大规模制备大面积微纳米结构的图形化技术,具有重复性好、成本低及结构分辨率高等优点.对各类聚合物及介质的快速结构成型使得大面积纳米压印技术在制备微纳光学、光电器件方面具有独特的优势,可应用于发光二极管、显示器、增强现实光波导及微流控芯片等众多领域,并在纳米技术商业化中发挥关键作用....     

塑料(PMMA)微流控芯片微通道热压成形工艺参数的确定

采用热压成形的方法制作塑料(PMMA)微流控芯片的微通道,其温度、压力和时间等工艺参数直接影响制作质量,而最佳的工艺参数取决于聚合物材料的流变特性。自行研制了用于塑料微流控芯片制作的热压成形机,能够对热压成形过程中的温度、压力进行精确的控制,利用该设备研究了PMMA在热压成形过程中的流变性能,通过获得的温度压力实验曲线,确定热压成形的温度,并研究了在该温度下压力对变形速率和复制精度的影响,从而确定热压工艺过程中的温度、压力和时间3个工艺参数。     

塑料微流控芯片热压成形温度控制装置

采用聚合物如塑料等制作微流控芯片是拓展芯片应用,实现芯片产业化的关键。温度是塑料微流控芯片热压成形过程中的重要工艺参数。本文采用半导体热电致冷堆,设计了适合塑料芯片制作的温度控制装置;分析了升降温过程中所需的加热／制冷功率,并对升降温特性进行了研究;设计了半导体热电致冷堆供电电源装置。对温度控制装置的升／降温及温度控制精度进行了实验,并给出了实验结果。     

PC微流控芯片黏接筋与溶剂的协同辅助键合

为了在微流控芯片上形成封闭的微通道等功能单元,克服热压键合中微流控结构的塌陷和热压所致芯片微翘曲对后续键合的影响,提出了一种适用于硬质聚合物微流控芯片的黏接筋与溶剂协同辅助的键合方法。以聚碳酸酯(PC)微流控芯片为研究对象,通过热压法在PC微流控芯片上的微通道两侧制作凸起的黏接筋,通过化学溶剂丙酮微溶PC圆片的表面,然后将PC圆片与带有黏接筋的PC微流控芯片贴合、加压、加热,从而实现微流控芯片的键合。分析了键合机理,并对键合工艺参数进行了优化。实验结果表明:键合质量受丙酮溶剂溶解PC圆片的时间和键合温度的影响,能够保证键合质量的最佳键合温度为80~90°,溶解时间为35~45s,芯片的键合总耗时为3min。与已有键合工艺相比,所提出的黏接筋与溶剂辅助键合工艺有效提高了键合效率。该键合方法不仅适用于具有不同宽度尺寸微通道的微流控芯片,还可扩展用于不同材料的硬质聚合物微流控芯片。     

一种聚合物平板微器件的制造方法

以一种平板微器件-微流控芯片制造为研究对象,针对单一的注塑成型工艺难以保证器件的宏微形位误差的难题,提出了一种新颖的聚合物平板微器件集成制造方法。首先,设计并制造了一套注塑模具,其中采用双螺纹结构将微镶件和定模架相连,对注塑工艺参数进行优化,制得填充率接近1的平板微制件。然后,对平板微制件进行了基于视觉对准的铣削整形和热压整平,有效改善了制件的宏微形位误差和平面度误差。最后,利用加工的器件进行装配,形成微流控芯片,并对芯片进行了流量测试和疲劳测试。实验结果表明:采用提出方法制造的微流控芯片,各项精度指标和性能可以满足实际使用要求,工艺成果对同类器件的研发和生产提供了借鉴和指导。     

注射成型微流控芯片微沟槽成型质量的无损检测

针对注射成型的微流控芯片具有微沟槽深度成型质量好,宽度成型质量较差,而且各处微沟槽的宽度成型质量不均衡的特点,利用Matlab软件的图像处理工具箱开发了微流控芯片微沟槽显微平面图片的图像处理系统,实现了利用常用的光学显微镜对微沟槽的成型质量进行无损检测。引入人工干涉来进行高效图像去噪处理。根据提取的微结构轮廓点进行了微沟槽轮廓的曲线拟合,测量了微沟槽的开口宽度和底部宽度。对由微流控芯片微沟槽显微平面图片所得到的测量结果与由对微流控芯片进行切片检测所得到的测量结果进行比较,结果显示,两种方法得到的微沟槽开口宽度相差约4%,槽底部宽度相差约3%,说明微沟槽显微平面图片的测量结果能够满足注射成型工艺研究中微流控芯片微结构成型质量检测的要求。     

模塑技术在微流控芯片加工中的应用

模塑工艺可以实现复杂的微结构和微通道的制作,具有较高的精度和重复性,因此将其应用于微流控芯片加工中。Hagen-Poiseuille定律计算矩形微通道的流体速度,同时,通过斯托克斯定律计算圆柱微通道的流体速度;然后,从温度、压力、时间和预热与冷却角度出发,展开模塑工艺与参数调控;最后,在参数结果与参数调控的基础上,给出微流控芯片模塑加工步骤。测试结果表明,实验组的流道底部宽度均在300mm以上,为4个小组中的最大宽度,说明文中研究能够实现模塑技术在微流控芯片加工中的良好应用。     

微流控芯片模芯的精密铣磨加工及其微注塑成形技术

为降低微流控芯片的大批量生产制造成本,保证微尺度流道结构的表面质量和形状精度,提出采用超硬立方氮化硼(CBN)磨棒在模具钢模芯表面精密铣磨加工制造出形状精度可控的微凸起阵列结构,然后利用微注塑成形技术高效成形制造出具有微凹槽阵列结构的聚合物微流控芯片.分析了铣磨加工工艺参数对微结构模芯表面质量的影响,通过试验和数学统计...     

聚合物微流控芯片激光加工及建模研究

在CO2激光直写聚合物PMMA微流控芯片加工原理基础上，对建立激光直写PMMA微流道的数学模型进行了研究。采用能量守恒原理对激光直写PMMA微流道成形进行分析，结果表明其微流道的形状呈高斯函数型分布，并获得了微流道深度与激光功率、加工速度及加工次数的函数关系模型。实验数据较好地验证了所建模型的正确性，该模型对CO2激光直写聚合物微流控芯片的加工参数选择具有较好的指导作用。     

微流控芯片热压成型机液压系统

提出了微流控芯片热压成型方法。介绍了热压成型的原理,并对微流控芯片热压成型机进行了总体设计。分析了热压成型机的液压系统及其器件选择方法,设计了热压成型机的整体液压回路,对液压系统进行了压力精度控制试验。试验结果表明,该系统控制精度在容许的范围之内。     

热压法快速制作微流控芯片模具

提出了一种微流控芯片模具的快速批量制作方法。应用光刻与湿法腐蚀技术制作玻璃母模,然后采用热压成形技术批量制作聚甲基丙烯酸甲酯(PMMA)阳模,再利用阳模浇模、键合批量制作聚二甲基硅氧烷(PDMS)微流控芯片。结果表明,该法制作的PMMA模具及复制得到的PDMS芯片平整度好、一致性高,其沟道宽度和深度的相对标准偏差分别小于0.5%和1.5%。     

超声波键合能量引导微结构PMMA基片的制作

为了用超声波键合的方法实现微流控芯片的封装,采用选择性键合方式在聚甲基丙烯酸甲酯(PMMA)基片的微沟道两侧设计、制作了能量引导微结构,用热压法在同一PMMA基片上一次成形了凸起的能量引导微结构和凹陷的微沟道。用套刻和湿法腐蚀的方法制作了复合一体化硅模具。通过正交实验,确定了优化后的热压工艺参数。实验结果表明,由于同时存在凹、凸微结构,因此优化后的热压成形温度比传统的热压凹陷结构的成形温度提高15~20 ℃,在温度为140 ℃、保压时间为300 s、压力为1.65 MPa的实验条件下,微结构的复制精度达到了99％。     

Integration of functionality into polymer-based microfluidic devices produced by high-volume micro-moulding techniques

Microfluidic devices with integrated functional elements have gained increasing attention in recent years. Many prototypes covering a wide range of applications have been fabricated and tested, especially in the fields of chemical and biomedical sciences. Nevertheless, integrated microfluidic devices are still far from being widely used as cost-efficient commercial products, often because they are produced by fabrication methods that are not suitable for mass production. Several methods have been recently introduced for cost-efficient high-volume production of micro-featured plastic parts, such as microinjection moulding and hot embossing. These methods have been widely used for fabricating simple disposable microfluidic chips on a commercial scale, but have not yet been similarly applied for producing integrated microfluidic devices. This review paper aims at presenting the state of the art in integrated microfluidic devices produced by cost-efficient high-volume replication processes. It takes microinjection moulding and hot embossing as its two process examples. Several types of elements are classified according to their functions, defined relative to their physical inputs and outputs. Their level of integration is reviewed. In addition, elements are discussed from a manufacturing viewpoint in terms of being readily produced by replication techniques or by back-end processes. Current and future challenges in integration are presented and discussed.     

PRESSURE FORCE CONTROL FOR FABRICATION OF PLASTIC MICROFLUIDIC CHIPS WITH HOT EMBOSSING METHOD

A pressure force control system for hot embossing of microfluidic chips is designed with a moment motor and a ball bearing lead screw. Based on the numeric PID technique, the algorithm of pulsant integral accelerated PID control is presented and the negative effects of nonlinearity from friction, clearance and saturation are eliminated. In order to improve the quick-response characteristic, independent thread technique is adopted. The method of pressure force control based on pulsant integral accelerated PID control and independent thread technique is applied with satisfactory control performance.     

Evaluation of roughness, hardness, and strength of AA 6061 molds for manufacturing polymeric microdevices

In the manufacturing of polymeric microfluidic devices, micro-molds play a key role because they determine not only the manufacturing cost but also the quality of the molded parts. Recently, a high-quality aluminum alloy 6061 (AA6061) mold with fine features less than its grain size has been fabricated economically by a hot embossing technique. However, temperature cycling during hot embossing process in mold manufacturing reduces significantly the original tensile strength and hardness of the AA6061-T6 alloy substrate, which is not desirable. In this study, a tempering process is carried out to recover the tensile strength and hardness of the embossed mold. To evaluate the changes of these properties, surface roughness, tensile strength, and hardness values were measured in each stage: (1) before hot embossing, (2) after hot embossing, and (3) tempering to T4 and tempering to T6. The results obtained demonstrate that the original strengths and hardness can be fully recovered by a post-tempering process after hot embossing, but with an increase in surface roughness. Moreover, accelerated testing was carried out to evaluate the changes in hardness and roughness of AA6061-T4 and T6 molds under the typical hot embossing temperature cycles of manufacturing polymeric devices. The results obtained indicate that these temperature cycles have only a minor effect on the roughness of both T4 and T6 molds and will increase the hardness of T4 molds to T6 temper, and have negligible effect on the hardness of a T6 temper mold.     

EXPERIMENTAL STUDY ON THE HOT EMBOSSING POLYMER MICROFLUIDIC CHIP

Experiments are used to study the fabrication of polymer microfluidic chip with hot embossing method. The pattern fidelity with respect to the process parameters is analyzed. Experiment results show that the relationship between the imprint temperature and the microchannel width is approximately exponential. However, the depth of micro channel isn＇t sensitive to the imprint temperature. When the imprint pressure is larger than 1 MPa and the imprint time is longer than 2 min, the increasing of imprint pressure and holding time has little impact on the microchannel width. So over long holding time is not needed in hot embossing. Based on the experiment analysis, a series of optimization process parameters is obtained and a fine microfluidic chip is fabricated. The electrophoresis separation experiment are used to verify the microfluidic chip performance after bonding. The results show that 100bp-ladder DNA sample can be separated in less than 5 min successfully.     

Geometric optimization for a thermal microfluidic chip

A geometric design for a microfluidic chip using numerical simulation is presented. Finite element method was employed in order to design the microchannel configuration for a microfluidic chip array. The effect of geometry on the thermal response at the interface between the microfluidic chips and an integrated system, such as a micro-electronic device, was investigated. Dimensionless design charts, obtained from the parametric models, demonstrated that a compromise between a maximum heat transfer and a minimum interface temperature was achieved with an equilateral triangle cross-section at a microchannel spacing to width ratio of two. The transient response of the microfluidic chip implied that the transient analysis corresponded to the steady state results under different boundary conditions.