Center for Biomedical Engineering, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, 65 Landsdowne Street, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA.
Biofabrication. 2010 Dec;2(4):045001. doi: 10.1088/1758-5082/2/4/045001. Epub 2010 Sep 24.
Poly(dimethylsiloxane) (PDMS) microstructures have been widely used in bio-microelectromechanical systems (bio-MEMS) for various types of analytical, diagnostic and therapeutic applications. However, PDMS-based soft lithographic techniques still use conventional microfabrication processes to generate a master mold, which requires access to clean room facilities and costly equipment. With the increasing use of these systems in various fields, the development of benchtop systems for fabricating microdevices is emerging as an important challenge in their widespread use. Here we demonstrate a simple, low-cost and rapid method to fabricate PDMS microstructures by using micropatterned poly(ethylene glycol) diacrylate (PEGDA) master molds. In this method, PEGDA microstructures were patterned on a glass substrate by photolithography under ambient conditions and by using simple tools. The resulting PEGDA structures were subsequently used to generate PDMS microstructures by standard molding in a reproducible and repeatable manner. The thickness of the PEGDA microstructures was controllable from 15 to 300 µm by using commonly available spacer materials. We also demonstrate the use of this method to fabricate microfluidic channels capable of generating concentration gradients. In addition, we fabricated PEGDA microstructures by photolithography from the light generated from commonly available laminar cell culture hood. These data suggest that this approach could be beneficial for fabricating low-cost PDMS-based microdevices in resource limited settings.
聚二甲基硅氧烷 (PDMS) 微结构已广泛应用于各种分析、诊断和治疗应用的生物微机电系统 (bio-MEMS) 中。然而，基于 PDMS 的软光刻技术仍然使用传统的微制造工艺来生成主模具，这需要使用洁净室设施和昂贵的设备。随着这些系统在各个领域的广泛应用，开发用于制造微器件的台式系统成为其广泛应用的一个重要挑战。在这里，我们展示了一种简单、低成本、快速的方法，通过使用微图案化的聚乙二醇二丙烯酸酯 (PEGDA) 母模来制造 PDMS 微结构。在这种方法中，PEGDA 微结构通过在环境条件下和使用简单工具的光刻在玻璃基板上进行图案化。然后，通过标准模制以可重复和可重复的方式生成 PDMS 微结构。通过使用常用的间隔材料，PEGDA 微结构的厚度可以从 15 µm 到 300 µm 进行控制。我们还展示了这种方法用于制造能够产生浓度梯度的微流道。此外，我们通过常见的层流细胞培养罩产生的光通过光刻制造了 PEGDA 微结构。这些数据表明，这种方法可能有助于在资源有限的环境中制造低成本的基于 PDMS 的微器件。
