Diode Laser Bonding of Planar MEMS, MOEMS, & Microfluidic Devices
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Diode Laser Bonding of Planar MEMS, MOEMS, & Microfluidic Devices Dr. Jie-Wei Chen, Leister Process Technologies, Riedstr. CH-6060, Switzerland Jerry Zybko, Leister Technologies, LLC, Glen Ellyn, IL 60137, U.S.A. James Clements, NanoSciences, Inc. Aliso Viejo, CA 92656, U.S.A. Abstract The assembly of plastic microfluidic devices, MOEMS and microarrays requiring high positioning and welding accuracy in the micrometer range, has been successfully achieved using a new technology based on laser transmission welding combined with a photolithographic mask technique. This paper reviews a laser assembly platform for the joining of microfluidic plastic parts with its main related process characteristics and its potential for low-cost and high volume manufacturing. The system consists of a of diode laser with a mask and an automated alignment function to generate micro welding seams with freely definable geometries. A fully automated mask alignment system with a resolution of < 2 µm and a precise, non-contact energy input allows a fast welding of micro structured plastic parts with high reproducibility and excellent welding quality.
Background The research and development of microfluidic device, socalled lab-on-a-chip technology, is one of the fastest growing areas of medical and biological diagnostics for a variety of applications including DNA analysis, drug discovery and clinical diagnostics [1,2]. Up to now, the preferred materials have been silicon, glass or quartz, mainly because micro fabrication methods for these materials have been extensively developed in the microelectronics industry. However, for many applications, these materials, and associated fabrication processes, are not cost-effective for commercial production and typically for single-use devices.
Plastics are playing an important and ever-increasing role in microtechnology - especially in low-cost, massproduced applications. It is relatively easy to produce micro structure on the plastic substrates with complex patterns of 50-100µm-sized channels using state-of-theart replication techniques such as injection molding, hot embossing [3] and UV molding. These substrates are typically used to produce devices on which reactions and high-efficiency electrophoretic separations of biomolecules have been achieved in timescales of seconds to minutes. Plastics like polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA), polycarbonate (PC) and Cyclopolyolefinpolymere (COC) have been intensively investigated because of their resistance to certain chemicals and biocompatibility. The
complete fabrication approach of such a microfluidic device involves two primary steps: (1) formation of micro channels in a plastic base wafer or layer, and (2) bonding of the base layer with a cover sheet to form closed channels. There are several joining procedures for plastic parts including glue cured by heat or UV light, ultrasonic welding and hot gas welding. However, most of these methods cannot, or can only with great difficulty, be adapted to micro structured plastic parts due to the dispensin
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