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Laser-machining of elastomeric microstencils

K. S. ELLISON1,2, D. B. CHRISEY2,3,* , D. M. THOMPSON1,2

Affiliation

  1. Biomedical Engineering
  2. Center for Biotechnology and Interdisciplinary Studies
  3. Materials Science and Engineering, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute110 8th St, Troy NY 12180

Abstract

We present laser-machining as a unique approach for the rapid fabrication of poly(dimethylsiloxane) (PDMS) elastomeric microstencils. User-defined patterns are easily created in CAD and imported into CAM control software to machine a thin PDMS membrane with an ArF intra-cavity variable aperture excimer laser (λ=193 nm). Laser-machining can be used to quickly and directly create on-demand microstencils by modifying the CAD program, making laser-machining an attractive alternative to indirectly fabricating microstencils with traditional methods. Laser-machining of the PDMS results in discrete patterns created in the membrane. These etched void spaces can be used to pattern protein and/or cells. Our resulting 50 µm thick microstencils include a wide range of etched feature dimensions (~10 µm – 1 cm) and geometries (Cartesian and polar), and can be used multiple times (>15) demonstrating their functionality and relative durability. Laser-machining of elastomeric microstencils is a scalable process and can be used to control the placement of protein and cells for a variety of applications in the biomedical sciences including high-throughput assays for drug discovery and the creation of cellular micro-environments in single or co-culture platforms..

Keywords

Laser-machining, Microstencils, Microfabrication, Cellular patterning.

Submitted at: June 30, 2009
Accepted at: Feb. 27, 2010

Citation

K. S. ELLISON, D. B. CHRISEY, D. M. THOMPSON, Laser-machining of elastomeric microstencils, Journal of Optoelectronics and Advanced Materials Vol. 12, Iss. 3, pp. 659-662 (2010)