Deformable mold based on-demand microchannel fabrication technology

In this paper, a modified soft lithography based on-demand microchannel fabrication technology is presented. Different from the widely adopted solid mold, a concept of deformable mold made of poly(dimethylsiloxane) (PDMS) is developed, in which the mold contour can be changed due to the excellent elasticity associated with PDMS (can withstand strain higher than 100%). Through combining with the special curing property associated with PDMS, several types of processes have been developed, based on which not only can 2D microchannels with various rounded cross sectional contours be fabricated using the same deformable mold, but also microchannels with multi-depth can be obtained simultaneously with only one replication step. In addition, more complicated microchannel than the most common 2D planar configuration, such as vertically arranged 3D self-aligning dual-channel, can also be achieved with the proposed strategy. (c) 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.