High fidelity, high yield production of microfluidic devices by hot embossing lithography: rheology and stiction.

We discuss thermoforming of thermoplastic polymers for the hot-embossing lithographic (HEL) fabrication of microfluidic chips near equilibrium conditions that minimize elastic recoil for optimal motif replication. While HEL is often simplistically described as the transfer of micro- and nano-motifs into heat-softened thermoplastic materials, we describe our rational approach to selecting appropriate processing parameters.