Cargando…

Hydrogel Patterns in Microfluidic Devices by Do-It-Yourself UV-Photolithography Suitable for Very Large-Scale Integration

The interest in large-scale integrated (LSI) microfluidic systems that perform high-throughput biological and chemical laboratory investigations on a single chip is steadily growing. Such highly integrated Labs-on-a-Chip (LoC) provide fast analysis, high functionality, outstanding reproducibility at...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Beck, Anthony, Obst, Franziska, Busek, Mathias, Grünzner, Stefan, Mehner, Philipp J., Paschew, Georgi, Appelhans, Dietmar, Voit, Brigitte, Richter, Andreas
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2020
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7281684/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32370256
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/mi11050479
_version_ 1783543977262186496
author Beck, Anthony
Obst, Franziska
Busek, Mathias
Grünzner, Stefan
Mehner, Philipp J.
Paschew, Georgi
Appelhans, Dietmar
Voit, Brigitte
Richter, Andreas
author_facet Beck, Anthony
Obst, Franziska
Busek, Mathias
Grünzner, Stefan
Mehner, Philipp J.
Paschew, Georgi
Appelhans, Dietmar
Voit, Brigitte
Richter, Andreas
author_sort Beck, Anthony
collection PubMed
description The interest in large-scale integrated (LSI) microfluidic systems that perform high-throughput biological and chemical laboratory investigations on a single chip is steadily growing. Such highly integrated Labs-on-a-Chip (LoC) provide fast analysis, high functionality, outstanding reproducibility at low cost per sample, and small demand of reagents. One LoC platform technology capable of LSI relies on specific intrinsically active polymers, the so-called stimuli-responsive hydrogels. Analogous to microelectronics, the active components of the chips can be realized by photolithographic micro-patterning of functional layers. The miniaturization potential and the integration degree of the microfluidic circuits depend on the capability of the photolithographic process to pattern hydrogel layers with high resolution, and they typically require expensive cleanroom equipment. Here, we propose, compare, and discuss a cost-efficient do-it-yourself (DIY) photolithographic set-up suitable to micro-pattern hydrogel-layers with a resolution as needed for very large-scale integrated (VLSI) microfluidics. The achievable structure dimensions are in the lower micrometer scale, down to a feature size of 20 µm with aspect ratios of 1:5 and maximum integration densities of 20,000 hydrogel patterns per cm². Furthermore, we demonstrate the effects of miniaturization on the efficiency of a hydrogel-based microreactor system by increasing the surface area to volume (SA:V) ratio of integrated bioactive hydrogels. We then determine and discuss a correlation between ultraviolet (UV) exposure time, cross-linking density of polymers, and the degree of immobilization of bioactive components.
format Online
Article
Text
id pubmed-7281684
institution National Center for Biotechnology Information
language English
publishDate 2020
publisher MDPI
record_format MEDLINE/PubMed
spelling pubmed-72816842020-06-15 Hydrogel Patterns in Microfluidic Devices by Do-It-Yourself UV-Photolithography Suitable for Very Large-Scale Integration Beck, Anthony Obst, Franziska Busek, Mathias Grünzner, Stefan Mehner, Philipp J. Paschew, Georgi Appelhans, Dietmar Voit, Brigitte Richter, Andreas Micromachines (Basel) Article The interest in large-scale integrated (LSI) microfluidic systems that perform high-throughput biological and chemical laboratory investigations on a single chip is steadily growing. Such highly integrated Labs-on-a-Chip (LoC) provide fast analysis, high functionality, outstanding reproducibility at low cost per sample, and small demand of reagents. One LoC platform technology capable of LSI relies on specific intrinsically active polymers, the so-called stimuli-responsive hydrogels. Analogous to microelectronics, the active components of the chips can be realized by photolithographic micro-patterning of functional layers. The miniaturization potential and the integration degree of the microfluidic circuits depend on the capability of the photolithographic process to pattern hydrogel layers with high resolution, and they typically require expensive cleanroom equipment. Here, we propose, compare, and discuss a cost-efficient do-it-yourself (DIY) photolithographic set-up suitable to micro-pattern hydrogel-layers with a resolution as needed for very large-scale integrated (VLSI) microfluidics. The achievable structure dimensions are in the lower micrometer scale, down to a feature size of 20 µm with aspect ratios of 1:5 and maximum integration densities of 20,000 hydrogel patterns per cm². Furthermore, we demonstrate the effects of miniaturization on the efficiency of a hydrogel-based microreactor system by increasing the surface area to volume (SA:V) ratio of integrated bioactive hydrogels. We then determine and discuss a correlation between ultraviolet (UV) exposure time, cross-linking density of polymers, and the degree of immobilization of bioactive components. MDPI 2020-05-02 /pmc/articles/PMC7281684/ /pubmed/32370256 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/mi11050479 Text en © 2020 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Beck, Anthony
Obst, Franziska
Busek, Mathias
Grünzner, Stefan
Mehner, Philipp J.
Paschew, Georgi
Appelhans, Dietmar
Voit, Brigitte
Richter, Andreas
Hydrogel Patterns in Microfluidic Devices by Do-It-Yourself UV-Photolithography Suitable for Very Large-Scale Integration
title Hydrogel Patterns in Microfluidic Devices by Do-It-Yourself UV-Photolithography Suitable for Very Large-Scale Integration
title_full Hydrogel Patterns in Microfluidic Devices by Do-It-Yourself UV-Photolithography Suitable for Very Large-Scale Integration
title_fullStr Hydrogel Patterns in Microfluidic Devices by Do-It-Yourself UV-Photolithography Suitable for Very Large-Scale Integration
title_full_unstemmed Hydrogel Patterns in Microfluidic Devices by Do-It-Yourself UV-Photolithography Suitable for Very Large-Scale Integration
title_short Hydrogel Patterns in Microfluidic Devices by Do-It-Yourself UV-Photolithography Suitable for Very Large-Scale Integration
title_sort hydrogel patterns in microfluidic devices by do-it-yourself uv-photolithography suitable for very large-scale integration
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7281684/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32370256
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/mi11050479
work_keys_str_mv AT beckanthony hydrogelpatternsinmicrofluidicdevicesbydoityourselfuvphotolithographysuitableforverylargescaleintegration
AT obstfranziska hydrogelpatternsinmicrofluidicdevicesbydoityourselfuvphotolithographysuitableforverylargescaleintegration
AT busekmathias hydrogelpatternsinmicrofluidicdevicesbydoityourselfuvphotolithographysuitableforverylargescaleintegration
AT grunznerstefan hydrogelpatternsinmicrofluidicdevicesbydoityourselfuvphotolithographysuitableforverylargescaleintegration
AT mehnerphilippj hydrogelpatternsinmicrofluidicdevicesbydoityourselfuvphotolithographysuitableforverylargescaleintegration
AT paschewgeorgi hydrogelpatternsinmicrofluidicdevicesbydoityourselfuvphotolithographysuitableforverylargescaleintegration
AT appelhansdietmar hydrogelpatternsinmicrofluidicdevicesbydoityourselfuvphotolithographysuitableforverylargescaleintegration
AT voitbrigitte hydrogelpatternsinmicrofluidicdevicesbydoityourselfuvphotolithographysuitableforverylargescaleintegration
AT richterandreas hydrogelpatternsinmicrofluidicdevicesbydoityourselfuvphotolithographysuitableforverylargescaleintegration