doi:10.3850/978-981-08-6555-9_171

ABSTRACT

There is need for less expensive and rapid tooling for prototyping microfluidic components and systems in thermoplastics using microreplication technique such as microinjection moulding. This paper presents the adaptation of a conventional injection moulding process using a silicon mould insert. A dry-etched silicon mould insert with aspect ratio of 4 was produced by a two-step dry etching process. Cycloolefin copolymer (COC 5013 and 8007) fluidic chips of 560 µm thickness comprising channels of 100 µm depth and width down to 25 µm were manufactured. The injection processing temperature and mould temperature were varied from 265°C to 305°C and 40°C to 190°C respectively to study their effect on the COC replicas.

Keywords: DRIE, Silicon, Micro-injection moulding, Polymer, COC.

© 2011 4M 2010 Organisers