Dry adhesive tape bonding: A simple, low-cost and high throughput bonding for multilayer and hybrid microdevice integration
Chia-Wen Tsao
Department of Mechanical Engineering, National Central University
cwtsao@ncu.edu.tw
Abstract
With the 30-years development of microfluidic technology, it has been applied in various applications, including biomedical, chemistry, energy, and environmental applications [1]. Originated from micro-electrical mechanical system (MEMS) and semiconductor microfabrication techniques, the microfluidic devices are mainly fabricated from glass and silicon substrates. The microstructures and microfluidic channels are generated by standard UV lithography, dry/wet etching, and deposition process on these substrates. In 2000~2010 period, polymer (polydimethylsiloxane and thermoplastic) and paper materials have introduced as alternative low-cost disposable material for microfluidics. Currently, thermoplastic, paper, and polydimethylsiloxane have become major materials for microfluidic device and it also plays a critical role for device commercialization due to their low-cost advantage [2].
In microfluidic fabricaiton, post-end bonding process is a critical last step that determine the yield and success of the the device. Thus, a effective, low fabrication cost (facility cost and material cost) and high throughput approach sealing these (thermoplastic, polydimethylsiloxane or paper) materials is required to be investigated. Among all of existing bonding techniques, dry ahesvie bonding is the most simple and straightforward approach. It also present good capability hybrid integrating/bonding thermoplastic, polydimethylsiloxane or paper materials for various advanced applications. In NanoMED 2020, we discussed about the bonding phenomena and its potential for multi-layer and hybrid fabrication based on the thermoplastic-based microfluidic platform using dry adhesive tapes bonding.
Short Bio
Dr. Chia-Wen Tsao is now a Professor in Department of Mechanical Engineering, National Central University, Taiwan. And Director of CAIC (Center for Academia and Industrial Collaboration), National Central University, Taiwan form 2018-2020. Dr. Tsao got his M.S. degree in Department of Mechanical Engineering in University of Colorado at Boulder in 2004 and a Ph.D. degree in Department of Mechanical Engineering in University of Maryland at College Park in 2008. He joined National Central University as assistant professor in 2008 after graduation. Before join university as professor, he also worked in industrial as mechanical engineer and MEMS process integrator for four years. His research interests include polymer microfluidic microfabrication technologies, Lab-on-chips device, MEMS, and mass spectrometry technologies.
Reference
[1] N. Convery and N. Gadegaard, “30 years of microfluidics,” Micro and Nano Engineering, vol. 2, pp. 76-91, 2019/03/01/ 2019.
[2] C.-W. Tsao, “Polymer Microfluidics: Simple, Low-Cost Fabrication Process Bridging Academic Lab Research to Commercialized Production,” Micromachines, vol. 7, p. 225, 2016.