Thomas Brettschneider

Wafer-level packaging and laser bonding as an approach for silicon-into-lab-on-chip integration

A novel approach for the integration of silicon biosensors into microfluidics is presented. Our approach is based on wafer-level packaging of the silicon die and a laser-bonding process of the resulting mold package into a polymer-multilayer stack. The introduction of a flexible and 40 μm thin hot melt foil as an intermediate layer enables laser bonding between materials with different melting temperatures, where standard laser welding processes cannot be employed. All process steps are suitable for mass production, e.g. the approach does not involve any dispensing steps for glue or underfiller. The integration approach was demonstrated and evaluated regarding process technology by wafer-level redistribution of daisy chain silicon dies representing a generic biosensor. Electrical connection was successfully established and laser-bonding tensile strength of 5.7 N mm−2 and burst pressure of 587 kPa at a temperature of 100 °C were achieved for the new material combination. The feasibility of the complete packaging approach was shown by the fabrication of a microfluidic flow cell with embedded mold package.

Laser micromachining as a metallization tool for microfluidic polymer stacks

A novel assembly approach for the integration of metal structures into polymeric microfluidic systems is described. The presented production process is completely based on a single solid-state laser source, which is used to incorporate metal foils into a polymeric multi-layer stack by laser bonding and ablation processes. Chemical reagents or glues are not required. The polymer stack contains a flexible membrane which can be used for realizing microfluidic valves and pumps. The metal-to-polymer bond was investigated for different metal foils and plasma treatments, yielding a maximum peel strength of Rps = 1.33 N mm−1. A minimum structure size of 10 µm was determined by 3D microscopy of the laser cut line. As an example application, two different metal foils were used in combination to micromachine a standardized type-T thermocouple on a polymer substrate. An additional laser process was developed which allows metal-to-metal welding in close vicinity to the polymer substrate. With this process step, the reliability of the electrical contact could be increased to survive at least 400 PCR temperature cycles at very low contact resistances.