Lars Erik Schmidt

Acrylated hyperbranched polymer photoresist for ultra-thick and low-stress high aspect ratio micropatterns

Different photocurable acrylates, including two hyperbranched monomers, are compared with an epoxy negative-tone photoresist (SU-8) with respect to their suitability for the fabrication of ultra-thick polymer microstructures in a photolithographic process. To this end, a resolution pattern was used and key parameters, such as the maximum attainable thickness and aspect ratio, the minimum resolution and the processing time were determined. Compared to SU-8, all acrylate materials allowed the fabrication of thicker layers with a fast single layer fabrication procedure. Microstructures with thicknesses of up to 850 µm, an aspect ratio of up to 7.7, a 5.5-fold reduction in internal stress and a 6-fold reduction in processing time compared to SU-8 were demonstrated using an acrylated hyperbranched polyether. The specific development process of the hyperbranched polymer combined with channel design moreover enabled us to produce a high-performance valve for micro-battery devices.

A fast low-temperature micromolding process for hydrophilic microfluidic devices using UV-curable acrylated hyperbranched polymers

A novel UV-curable low-stress hyperbranched polymer (HBP) micromolding process is presented for the fast and low-temperature fabrication of hydrophilic microfluidic devices. Process, material and surface properties of the acrylated polyether HBP are also characterized and compared to those of polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) and cyclic olefin copolymers (COC). The HBP dispensed on a PDMS master was cured at room temperature using a 3 min UV exposure at the intensity of 22.2 mW cm−2. Thermal, mechanical and surface properties of the micromolded HBP structures have been characterized and resulted in a glass transition temperature of 55 °C, Youngs modulus of 770 MPa and hydrophilic surface having a water contact angle of 54°. Micromolding of 33 µm thick HBP microstructures has been demonstrated. We achieved 14.5 µm wide vertical walls, 14.7 µm wide fluidic channels, 24.1 µm wide square pillars and 53.4 µm wide square holes. A microfluidic network device, composed of microfluidic channels and reservoirs, was fabricated and its microfluidic performance has been verified by a fluidic test.