Jose in the NanoFab facility at the University of Alberta
I have been involved in most stages of the process cycle, from mask layout to cleanroom processing to measurement of thin film material properties and testing of the finished device. At the University of Windsor I worked on detailed planning and simulation of microfabrication processes and at the University of Alberta I had the opportunity to have my designs prototyped in the NanoFab facility.
With my research group at UofA I developed microfabrication processes for polymer MEMS/Microfluidic devices. These comprised materials such as PDMS, SU-8, KMPR, glass, silicon and highly biocompatible polymers like Parylene. The prototyped devices contained Aluminum or Platinum thin film elements, fabricated by sputtering and standard lithography or lift-off. Measuring accurately the electrical properties of these films was key in simulating the devices with realistic parameters prior to full device fabrication.
I have been involved in most stages of the process cycle, from mask layout to cleanroom processing to measurement of thin film material properties and testing of the finished device. At the University of Windsor I worked on detailed planning and simulation of microfabrication processes and at the University of Alberta I had the opportunity to have my designs prototyped in the NanoFab facility.
With my research group at UofA I developed microfabrication processes for polymer MEMS/Microfluidic devices. These comprised materials such as PDMS, SU-8, KMPR, glass, silicon and highly biocompatible polymers like Parylene. The prototyped devices contained Aluminum or Platinum thin film elements, fabricated by sputtering and standard lithography or lift-off. Measuring accurately the electrical properties of these films was key in simulating the devices with realistic parameters prior to full device fabrication.
The optical microscope video below shows the capillary filling of intersecting 100 µm wide microchannels. We fabricated these channels in a 4-layer photopolymer structure using conventional lithography and thermo-compressive bonding. These channels make up the capillary electrophoresis section of the chip. The self-filling process starts with the deposition of a drop of water on the inlet port. When the column of water reaches the intersection the filling stops. A second drop is then deposited on one of the ports of the intersecting channel and the filling continues when the two columns meet at the intersection. Self-filling was achieved by pre-treating the channels with alcohol. FEA simulation of the filling process allows for optimizing channel dimensions before fabrication.