Micromachines 2016, 7(1), 7; doi:10.3390/mi7010007
Study on Improving Thickness Uniformity of Microfluidic Chip Mold in the Electroforming Process
1
Key Laboratory for Precision and Non-traditional Machining Technology of Ministry of Education, Dalian University of Technology, Dalian 116024, China
2
Key Laboratory for Micro/Nano Technology and System of Liaoning Province, Dalian University of Technology, Dalian 116024, China
3
CapitalBio Corporation, Beijing 101111, China
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Academic Editor: Marc Desmulliez
Received: 13 December 2015 / Revised: 31 December 2015 / Accepted: 5 January 2016 / Published: 13 January 2016
Abstract
Electroformed microfluidic chip mold faces the problem of uneven thickness, which decreases the dimensional accuracy of the mold, and increases the production cost. To fabricate a mold with uniform thickness, two methods are investigated. Firstly, experiments are carried out to study how the ultrasonic agitation affects the thickness uniformity of the mold. It is found that the thickness uniformity is maximally improved by about 30% after 2 h electroforming under 200 kHz and 500 W ultrasonic agitation. Secondly, adding a second cathode, a method suitable for long-time electroforming is studied by numerical simulation. The simulation results show that with a 4 mm width second cathode used, the thickness uniformity is improved by about 30% after 2 h of electroforming, and that with electroforming time extended, the thickness uniformity is improved more obviously. After 22 h electroforming, the thickness uniformity is increased by about 45%. Finally, by comparing two methods, the method of adding a second cathode is chosen, and a microfluidic chip mold is made with the help of a specially designed second cathode. The result shows that the thickness uniformity of the mold is increased by about 50%, which is in good agreement with the simulation results. View Full-TextKeywords:
microfluidic chip mold; micro-electroforming; uniformity; ultrasonic agitation; second cathode
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Du, L.; Yang, T.; Zhao, M.; Tao, Y.; Luo, L.; Wang, L.; Liu, C. Study on Improving Thickness Uniformity of Microfluidic Chip Mold in the Electroforming Process. Micromachines 2016, 7, 7.
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