Volume 9 Issue 3
Fabrication of Glass Microchannel via Glass Imprinting using a Vitreous Carbon Stamp for Flow Focusing Droplet Generator
Hyungjun Jang, Muhammad Refatul Haq, Youngkyu Kim, Jun Kim, Pyoung-hwa Oh, Jonghyun Ju, Seok-Min Kim and Jiseok Lim
1School of Mechanical Engineering, College of Engineering, Chung-Ang University, 84 Heukseok-ro, Dongjak-gu, Seoul 06974, Korea
2School of Mechanical Engineering, Yeungnam University, 280 Daehak-Ro, Gyeongsan, Gyeongbuk 38541, Korea
*Authors to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Abstract
This study reports a cost-effective method of replicating glass microfluidic chips using a vitreous carbon (VC) stamp. A glass replica with the required microfluidic microstructures was synthesized without etching. The replication method uses a VC stamp fabricated by combining thermal replication using a furan-based, thermally-curable polymer with carbonization. To test the feasibility of this method, a flow focusing droplet generator with flow-focusing and channel widths of 50 µm and 100 µm, respectively, was successfully fabricated in a soda-lime glass substrate. Deviation between the geometries of the initial shape and the vitreous carbon mold occurred because of shrinkage during the carbonization process, however this effect could be predicted and compensated for. Finally, the monodispersity of the droplets generated by the fabricated microfluidic device was evaluated.
Keywords:autofluorescence; glass imprinting process; vitreous carbon mold; glass microchannel; droplet based microfluidic