A Photopatternable Silicone for Biomems Applications

Here we show the application of a commercially available photopatternable silicone (PPS) that combines advantages of both PDMS and SU-8 to address a critical need in material building blocks for bioMEMS. Using PPS we have demonstrated the ability to pattern free-standing mechanically isolated elastomeric structures on a silicon substrate, a feat challenging to approach using soft lithography-based fabrication. PPS can be readily integrated in cell-based bioMEMS since it exhibits low-autofluorescence and cells can attach and proliferate on PPS-coated substrates. PPS is compatible with standard microfabrication processes and can be easily aligned to complex featured substrates on a wafer-scale. By leveraging PPS’s unique properties we demonstrate the design of a simple dielectrophoresis-based bioMEMS device for patterning mammalian cells.