Laser polishing and 2PP structuring of inside microfluidic channels in fused silica

This study presents the development of post-processing steps for microfluidics fabricated with selective laser etching (SLE) in fused silica. In a first step, the SLE surface—even inner walls of microfluidic channels—can be smoothed by laser polishing. In addition, two-photon polymerization (2PP) ca...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Microfluidics and nanofluidics 2017-11, Vol.21 (11), p.1-9, Article 165
Main Authors: Weingarten, Christian, Steenhusen, Sönke, Hermans, Martin, Willenborg, Edgar, Schleifenbaum, Johannes Henrich
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Addition polymerization
Analytical Chemistry
Biomedical Engineering and Bioengineering
Channels
Engineering
Engineering Fluid Dynamics
Form accuracy
Fused silica
Heating
Laser beam heating
Lasers
Melting
Microchannels
Microfluidics
Microscopy
Nanotechnology and Microengineering
Polishing
Polymerization
Polymers
Post-production processing
Rapid prototyping
Research Paper
Silica
Silicon dioxide
Structures
Surface roughness
Surface tension
Wavelength
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Summary:This study presents the development of post-processing steps for microfluidics fabricated with selective laser etching (SLE) in fused silica. In a first step, the SLE surface—even inner walls of microfluidic channels—can be smoothed by laser polishing. In addition, two-photon polymerization (2PP) can be used to manufacture polymer microstructures and microcomponents inside the microfluidic channels. The reduction in the surface roughness by laser polishing is a remelting process. While heating the glass surface above softening temperature, laser radiation relocates material thanks to the surface tension. With laser polishing, the RMS roughness of SLE surfaces can be reduced from 12 µm down to 3 nm for spatial wavelength λ  
ISSN:1613-4982
1613-4990
DOI:10.1007/s10404-017-2000-x