Fabrication of Multiple Parallel Microchannels in a Single Microgroove via the Heating Assisted MIMIC Technique.

Dengying Zhang,Shengming Liu,Lichun Zhang,Weiren Li,Jun Wang,Yanli Dong,Fengzhou Zhao,Wenqiang Xing,Zheng Xu

doi:10.3390/mi13030364

Abstract

For the first time, multiple parallel microchannels in a single microgroove have been fabricated by the heating-assisted micromolding in capillaries technique (HAMIMIC). Microchannel development, cross-sectional shape, and length were all explored in depth. The factors affecting the cross-sectional shape and length of the double-microchannel were also discussed. Finally, a special-shaped PDMS guiding mold was designed to control the cross-sectional shape and length of multiple parallel microchannels for controlled growth. The HAMIMIC technique provides a low-cost, straightforward, and repeatable way to create multiple parallel microchannels in a single microgroove, and will promote the progress of bifurcated vessels and thrombus vessels preparation technology.

Highlights

One type of soft lithography is micromolding in capillaries (MIMIC) [29]
By changing the width and height of the microgrooves in crochannels can be the modified by adjusting the size andbuild cross-sectional profile of with microPDMS mold, we were able to efficiently a microchannel structure a circular grooves in the PDMS
The twoparallel parallel microchannels the samemicrogroove microgroove can obtained usingananordiordiHowever, we discovered that the sizes of the left and right microchannels made using nary ininFigure naryPDMS

Summary

Introduction

Microchannels have attracted tremendous attention due to their wide applications in various fields such as biomedicine [1–13], optics [14,15], and microfluidic [16–18]. There are already many approaches to fabricate microchannels, such as a glass cover on silicon [19], sacrificial layer [20], wafer bonding [21], sealing [22], porous silicon [23], buried channel technology [24], electric field-assisted capillarity [25], 3D printing [26], and soft lithography [27–29], etc. Soft lithography is widely used for applications ranging from simple microchannel fabrication to the creation of micropatterns onto a surface. It can be used within a microfluidic channel, due to its remarkable qualities, such as ease of operation, low cost, high fidelity, and high resolution. One type of soft lithography is micromolding in capillaries (MIMIC) [29]

Methods

Results

Conclusion