Micro Machining of Injection Mold Inserts for Fluidic Channel of Polymeric Biochips

• Main Authors: Myeong-Woo Cho, Gun-Hee Kim, Sung-Ho Chang, Kwang-Ho Shin, Gil-Sang Yoon, Young-Moo Heo, Woo-Chul Jung
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2007-08-01
• Series: Sensors
• Subjects: Biochip; lab-on-a-chip; micro machining; injection molding; mold inserts.
• Online Access: http://www.mdpi.com/1424-8220/7/8/1643/

Recently, the polymeric micro-fluidic biochip, often called LOC (lab-on-a-chip), has been focused as a cheap, rapid and simplified method to replace the existing biochemical laboratory works. It becomes possible to form miniaturized lab functionalities on a chip with the development of MEMS technologies. The micro-fluidic chips contain many micro-channels for the flow of sample and reagents, mixing, and detection tasks. Typical substrate materials for the chip are glass and polymers. Typical techniques for micro-fluidic chip fabrication are utilizing various micro pattern forming methods, such as wet-etching, micro-contact printing, and hot-embossing, micro injection molding, LIGA, and micro powder blasting processes, etc. In this study, to establish the basis of the micro pattern fabrication and mass production of polymeric micro-fluidic chips using injection molding process, micro machining method was applied to form micro-channels on the LOC molds. In the research, a series of machining experiments using micro end-mills were performed to determine optimum machining conditions to improve surface roughness and shape accuracy of designed simplified micro-channels. Obtained conditions were used to machine required mold inserts for micro-channels using micro end-mills. Test injection processes using machined molds and COC polymer were performed, and then the results were investigated.