Packaging of microfluidic chips via interstitial bonding technique

Chunmeng Lu, L. James Lee, Yi Je Juang*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

32 Scopus citations

Abstract

In this paper, we describe an interstitial bonding technique for packaging of microfluidic chips. The cover plate is first placed on top of the microfluidic chip, followed by dispensing the UV-curable resin into the resin-loading reservoirs. With the interstitial space between the cover plate and the microfluidic chip connecting to the loading reservoirs, the UV-curable resin wicks through capillary force action and hydrostatic pressure generated by the liquid level in the resin-loading reservoirs. When reaching the microchannels, the UV-curable resin stops flowing into the microchannels due to the force balance between the surface tension and hydrostatic pressure. The assembly is then placed under the UV light, followed by further curing in the thermal oven. It is found that there is no leakage from the bonded microfluidic chips and a good DNA separation result was obtained by using the microfluidic chips as fabricated. This bonding technique is relatively simple and fast, which can be applied to the packaging of microfluidic chips made from hybrid materials with complicated designs as long as the interstitial space connects to the loading reservoirs.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1407-1414
Number of pages8
JournalElectrophoresis
Volume29
Issue number7
DOIs
StatePublished - Apr 2008

Keywords

  • DNA separation
  • Interstitial bonding
  • Microfluidic chips
  • Surface tension

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