New Maskless Lithography System for Fabricating Biodevices using Light-Emitting Diodes and Squared Optical Fibers

摘要

A new low-cost lithography system convenient for fabricating biodevices was developed. Using the new system, various patterns of cell arrays, chamber arrays, flow paths of micro-fluidic devices, and others were easily printed without preparing any reticles or masks. In the system, light-emitting diodes (LEDs) were used as exposure sources and squared optical fibers arrayed in a 10×10 matrix were used as the combination of a secondary light source and a reticle. Light rays emitted from each LED were individually led to each fiber, and bright or dark of each LED was assigned by a personal computer. As a result, it became possible to print arbitrary patterns without preparing any reticles or masks. In addition to the ordinary patterning using various lightening maps of LEDs and their stitching, scan exposure was also tried. When bright images of optical fiber ends were scanned on a resist film by moving the wafer stage, long patterns appropriate for micro fluidic paths were very smoothly formed.