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Full-wafer in-situ fabrication and packaging of microfluidic flow cytometer with photo-patternable adhesive polymers

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Abstract

Integration of microelectronics with microfluidics enables sophisticated lab-on-a-chip devices for sensing and actuation. In this paper, we investigate a novel method for in-situ microfluidics fabrication and packaging on wafer level. Two novel photo-patternable adhesive polymers were tested and compared, PA-S500H and DXL-009. The microfluidics fabrication method employs photo lithographical patterning of spin coated polymer films of PA or DXL and direct bonding of formed microfluidics to a top glass cover using die-to-wafer level bonding. These new adhesive materials remove the need for additional gluing layers. With this approach, we fabricated disposable microfluidic flow cytometers and evaluated the performance of those materials in the context of this application. DXL-009 exhibits lower autofluorescence compared to PA-S500H which improves detection sensitivity of fluorescently stained cells. Results obtained from the cytotoxicity test reveals that both materials are biocompatible. The functionality of these materials was demonstrated by detection of immunostained monocytes in microfluidic flow cytometers. The flexible, fully CMOS compatible fabrication process of these photo-patternable adhesive materials will simplify prototyping and mass manufacturing of sophisticated microfluidic devices with integrated microelectronics.

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Acknowledgements

This research is supported by the European Research Council under the Consolidator Grant (SCALPEL; grant agreement no. 617312) and KU Leuven under the Industrial Research Fund (IRF) (IOFHB/09/037). The authors wish to thank Thomas Nyutten for measuring the fluorescent spectra.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. imec, Kapeldreef 75, B-3001, Leuven, Belgium

    Koen de Wijs, Chengxun Liu, Bivragh Majeed, Karolien Jans, John M. O’Callaghan, Josine Loo, Erik Sohn & Liesbet Lagae

  2. Physics Department, KU Leuven, Celestijnenlaan 200D, B-3001, Leuven, Belgium

    Koen de Wijs & Liesbet Lagae

  3. JSR micro NV, Technologielaan 8, B-3001, Leuven, Belgium

    Sara Peeters & Ruben Van Roosbroeck

  4. JSR corporation, 1-9-2 Higashi-Shinbashi, Minato-ku, Tokyo, 105-8640, Japan

    Tomokazu Miyazaki, Kenji Hoshiko, Isao Nishimura & Katsuhiko Hieda

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  1. Koen de Wijs
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  2. Chengxun Liu
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  3. Bivragh Majeed
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  14. Liesbet Lagae
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Correspondence to Koen de Wijs.

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de Wijs, K., Liu, C., Majeed, B. et al. Full-wafer in-situ fabrication and packaging of microfluidic flow cytometer with photo-patternable adhesive polymers . Biomed Microdevices 20, 2 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10544-017-0243-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10544-017-0243-7

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