Biostability of LTCC materials for Microfluidics and Biomedical Devices

摘要

Integrated Low Temperature Co‐fired Ceramic (LTCC) modules are widely used in commercial wireless data and cellular communication devices. Recently, a number of researchers have demonstrated the use of LTCC materials and assembly processes to build integrated microelectromechanical and microfluidic devices, incorporating a variety of electrical, optical, electromechanical and fluidic functions. However, the long term stability and biocompatibility of the LTCC materials for microfluidic and specifically biomedical devices has yet to be addressed. The biostability of LTCC material has been examined in three different commercial LTCC materials using a bioleaching approach. The leaching rate has been obtained in several common biologically fluid using weight loss to quantify the amount of leachable elements. Our results indicate significant dissolution of LTCC materials in simulated gastric fluid and highly basic solutions. However, acceptable stability was demonstrated in both phosphate buffer saline (PBS) solution and simulated body fluid (SBF).