Kazuaki Tabata

3D microfluidic device fabricated by using surface-activated bonding of electroplated Ni patterns

We present a three dimensional (3D) microfluidic device fabricated by multiple-stacking of electroplated Ni patterns using surface-activated bonding (SAB) at room temperature. We successfully fabricated a micro heat exchanger as a feasibility device, which is 800 /spl mu/m square by stacking nine layers of 25 /spl mu/m-thick Ni patterns at alignment accuracy less than 1/spl mu/m. 3D fluidic channels which consist of vertical holes of 100 /spl mu/m diameter and horizontal paths 70 /spl mu/m wide and 100 /spl mu/m pitch were formed by simply stacking patterned Ni plates without any sacrificial layers.

High Performance Microcooler Fabricated by Multiple Stacking of Electroplated Metal Patterns

We present a high performance microcooler fabricated by multiple-stacking of electroplated metal patterns using surface-activated bonding (SAB). We demonstrated the potential of a microchannel liquid cooler for a high-power electronic device, which is 10 mm square and 0.6 mm high and consists of 800 microchannels in 10 stories of the structure by stacking 20 layers of 30 mum-thick electroplated nickel patterns. We experimentally showed that the cooling capacity was 85 W with only a hydraulic pressure drop of 0.1 MPa.