Replica multichannel polymer chips with a network of sacrificial channels sealed by adhesive printing method.

Abstract

Replica microchips for capillary array electrophoresis containing 10 separation channels (50 microm width, 50 microm depth and 100 microm pitch) and a network of sacrificial channels (100 microm width and 50 microm depth) were successfully fabricated on a poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) substrate by injection molding. The strategy involved development of moving mask deep X-ray lithography to fabricate an array of channels with inclined channel sidewalls. A slight inclination of channel sidewalls, which can not be fabricated by conventional deep X-ray lithography, is highly required to ensure the release of replicated polymer chips from a mold. Moreover, the sealing of molded PMMA multichannel chips with a PMMA cover film was achieved by a novel bonding technique involving adhesive printing and a network of sacrificial channels. An adhesive printing process enables us to precisely control the thickness of an adhesive layer, and a network of sacrificial channels makes it possible to remove air bubbles and an excess adhesive, which are crucial to achieving perfect sealing of replica PMMA chips with well-defined channel and injection structures. A CCD camera equipped with an image intensifier was used to simultaneously monitor electrophoretic separations in ten micro-channels with laser-induced fluorescence detection. High-speed and high-throughput separations of a 100 bp DNA ladder and phi X174 Hae III DNA restriction fragments have been demonstrated using a 10-channel PMMA chip. The current work establishes the feasibility of mass production of PMMA multichannel chips at a cost-effective basis.