Abstract
Bonding is an essential step to form microchannels or microchambers in lab-on-a-chip applications. In this paper, we present a novel plastic thermal bonding technique to seal and form large area microchambers (planar characteristic width and length on the order of 1 mm and characteristic thickness on the order of 10–100 μm) without collapse by introducing a holed pressure equalizing plate (HPEP) that includes holes of the same size and shape as the microchambers. To demonstrate the proposed technique, two types of large area microchambers [(1) 20 × 10 mm and 40 μm thick and (2) 12 × 2.5 mm and 120 μm thick] with microchannels were designed and replicated on plastic substrates by means of hot embossing and injection molding processes with prepared two nickel mold inserts. The replicated large area microchambers as well as the microchannels in the plastic lab-on-a-chip were successfully sealed (i.e., no leakage) and formed without any collapse by the proposed thermal bonding technique with the help of the HPEP.
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Acknowledgments
The authors would like to thank to Korean Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Energy for the financial supports via a research project of the National RND Program (NM5410) and a research project of Development of Next-Generation New Technology (Development of Intelligent Robot Technologies for Laboratory Medicine by Applying Biotechnology).
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Kim, D.S., Lee, H.S., Han, J. et al. Collapse-free thermal bonding technique for large area microchambers in plastic lab-on-a-chip applications. Microsyst Technol 14, 179–184 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00542-007-0416-z
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00542-007-0416-z