A ROOM-TEMPERATURE BONDING TECHNIQUE USING ULTRATHIN PDMS AS AN INTERMEDIATE LAYER FOR FABRICATION OF MICRON AND SUBMICRON CHANNELS

摘要

We present a new room-temperature bonding technique using a submicron-thick PDMS as an intermediate adhesive bonding layer for fabrication of micron and submicron-scale channels. The ultrathin bonding layers were created with spin-coating of PDMS dissolved in toluene at various weight ratios from 1:4 to 1:18 (PDMS:toluene) to obtain layer thicknesses from 1.65 μm to 0.10 μm, respectively. Bonding of discrete parts of microchannel was formed under pressure with a clamping vise at room-temperature. Tensile bonding strength test on this new technique showed excellent bonding strength. We have achieved 310 kPa for a 0.1 μm-thick layer with the aid of oxygen plasma treatment. To demonstrate its utility in micron and submicron channel fabrication, we created channels (970 μm x 60 μm x 0.97 μm) and performed leakage tests. The bonding showed no leakage at pressures up to 210 kPa.