A New Method for Multilevel Lithography

Fabrication of microfluidic and lab-on-chip devices has played an influential role in nano/microtechnology industries in recent years. One of the main challenges in the fabrication of microfluidic devices is ۳D mold production. There are many methods of ۳D mold fabrication, with their advantages and disadvantages. In this research, a new method for low-cost ۳D mold fabrication is presented. The Bis-GMA photoresist has been used for this research. This photoresist does not need a pre-bake step, and by using this method, spin-coating will be eliminated. We have produced ۳D molds utilizing a liquid photoresist in an inverse exposure system and a grayscale mask to control the cured photoresist's thickness. This method's main features include low production cost, elimination of the spin coating step, not needing pre-bake, and multilevel mold fabrication in one lithography step. This method is useful for fabricating ۳D microfluidic devices and microfluidic AFM cantilevers.

Keywords:

BIS GMA , ۳D Lithography , Microfluidics , Grayscale lithography.