High-resolution permanent photoresist laminate TMMF for sealed microfluidic structures in biological applications

We demonstrate the use of photosensitive epoxy laminate TMMF S2045 for the fabrication and sealing of tapered microfluidic channels. The 45 μm thick resist enables the fabrication of shallow sealed cavities featuring extreme aspect ratios of less than 1:40 (h = 45 μm, w = 2000 μm). It also provides high resolution and enables minimum feature sizes of 10 μm. For the fabrication of free-standing structures, an aspect ratio of up to 7:1 was achieved. The dry-film photoresist can be applied easily by lamination onto structured substrates. The total thickness variation of the resist across a 100 mm wafer was determined to be less than ±0.6 μm. Process parameters for the fabrication and sealing of various micro-channels are discussed and optimized in this paper. The main focus was to minimize thermal impact during lamination, soft-bake, exposure and post–exposure bake, which could lead to lid sagging or channel clogging due to liquefaction of uncured resist. We tested TMMF according to ISO 10995-5 and found it to be non-cytotoxic, enabling its use for biological applications. Swelling of less than 5% for incubation of the dry-film resist in several biologically relevant solvents, buffers and cleaning solutions was observed. (Some figures in this article are in colour only in the electronic version)