1 The Membrane Micro Emboss (MeME) Process for Fabricating 3-D Microfluidic Device Formed from Thin Polymer Membrane M. Ikeuchi and K. Ikuta Dept. of Micro/Nano Systems Eng., School of Eng., Nagoya University, Japan 黃紫郁

2 Outline Introduction Fabrication Results Conclusion

3 Introduction The “membrane micro emboss (MeME) process” realizes arbitrary 3-D microstructures made of thin mesoporous polymer membrane. The “membrane microfluidic device” offers much higher mass and heat transfer through microchannel walls.

4 Introduction The whole surface of the microchannel itself works as a large filter in this device. larger filtration area, and the smaller area for packaging.

5 Fabrication － Membrane Poly-lactic acid (PLA) solution dissolved in dioxane/water mixed solvent. Spin-coated on a glass substrate and dried in vacuo.

6 Fabrication － apparatus Stepping motor 100 nm.

7 Fabrication － MeME The PLA membrane thickness is 5 μm. Support substrate is paraffin. Heat-sealing at 70 ℃ for 30 s.

8 Fabrication － parameters The effect of the process including pressing time period, pressing speed and the property of paraffin. Pressing time period: Longer time period resulted in smaller curvature at the bottom corner of the micro-channel. The height saturated before 250 s.

9 Fabrication － parameters Pressing speed and the property of paraffin Higher pressing speed and the use of paraffin with higher melting point increased the height.

10 Fabrication － parameters Pressing speed and the property of paraffin This was due to the increasing pressure against the membrane under these conditions.

11 Results The lateral resolution was smaller than 15 μm. The vertical resolution was around 1 μm. The resolutions can be much smaller with thinner membranes.

12 Results The microchannels with width and depth of 50 μm, and wall thickness of 5 μm. Red solution was filled in the microchannels by capillary force.

13 Results Suspension of microbeads ranging from 0.1 μm to 15 μm in diameter. Size-selective filter with 1 μm cut-off diameter.

14 Conclusion MeME process to fabricate membrane microfluidic devices high precision, speed and simplicity. It requires only thermo-plasticity of the membrane material. New application of microfluidic devices for biological and chemical analysis temperature control and interfacial mass transfer.

15 References M. Ikeuchi, K. Ikuta, “The Membrane Micro Emboss (MeME) Process for Fabricating 3-D Microfluidic Device Formed from Thin Polymer Membrane”, Proc. TAS’06 Conference, Nov.5-9, 2006, pp M. Ikeuchi, K. Ikuta, “On-site Size-selective Particle Sampling Using Mesoporous Polymer Membrane Microfluidic Device”, Proc. TAS’06 Conference, Nov.5-9, 2006, pp M. Ikeuchi, K. Ikuta, “ARTIFICIAL CAPILLARY NETWORK CHIP FOR IN VITRO 3D TISSUE CULTURE”, TRANSDUCERS’07 Conference, June 10-14, 2007, pp M. Ikeuchi, K. Ikuta, “Fabrication of Biodegradable Membrane Micro-channels for Artificial Blood Capillary Networks Using Membrane Micro Embossing (MeME)”, 生体醫工學, Vol.43, pp , M. Ikeuchi, The 21st Century COE Program, pp.111.