Fabricating and Laminating Films with Through‐Holes and Engraved/Protruding Structures for 3D Micro/Nanofluidic Platforms

Abstract

Micro/nanofluidic devices have become popular for delicately processing biological, material, and chemical samples. However, their reliance on 2D fabrication schemes has hindered further innovation. Here, a 3D manufacturing method is proposed through the innovation of laminated object manufacturing (LOM), which involves the selection of building materials as well as the development of molding and lamination techniques. Fabrication of interlayer films is demonstrated with both multi‐layered micro‐/nanostructures and through‐holes, using an injection molding approach and establishing strategic principles of film design. Utilization of the multi‐layered through‐hole films in LOM allows reducing the number of alignments and laminations by at least two times compared to conventional LOM. Using a dual‐curing resin for film fabrication, a surface‐treatment‐free and collapse‐free lamination technique is shown for constructing 3D multiscale micro/nanofluidic devices with ultralow aspect ratio nanochannels. The 3D manufacturing method enables the development of a nanochannel‐based attoliter droplet generator capable of 3D parallelization for mass production, which implies the remarkable potential to extend numerous existing 2D micro/nanofluidic platforms into a 3D framework.

Full-Combinatorial Concentration Gradient Array with 3D Micro/Nanofluidics for Antibiotic Susceptibility Testing

“…In the fabrication process, we utilized our previously reported through-hole interlayer film (TIF) technology, which allows the inclusion of both multiscale channel networks for sample processing and through-holes for 3D channel interconnection. 25 To validate the functionality of the concentration gradient array (CGA) device, we conducted experimental characterization, complemented by numerical simulations. We applied the CGA device to perform an antibiotic susceptibility test on bacterial cells.…”

Programmable and Pixelated Solute Concentration Fields Controlled by Three-Dimensionally Networked Microfluidic Source/Sink Arrays

“…To address the challenges of generating more diverse and higher-dimensional chemical environments, recent advances in 3D microfluidic technologies offer a promising direction for integrating membrane-like structures into microfluidic devices . Several complementary fabrication approaches for routing the 3D microfluidic channel network, such as stereolithography, two-photon printing, inkjet, and through-hole layer, have shown notable achievements.…”

“…To address the challenges of generating more diverse and higher-dimensional chemical environments, recent advances in 3D microfluidic technologies offer a promising direction for integrating membrane-like structures into microfluidic devices. 30 Several complementary fabrication approaches for routing the 3D microfluidic channel network, such as stereolithography, 31 two-photon printing, 32 inkjet, 33 and through-hole layer, 34 have shown notable achievements. However, these methods have yet to explore the integration of thin (approximately tens of micrometers), local, and membranelike structures into micro-/nanofluidic devices within the context of a 3D framework.…”

“…In this paper, we present a microfluidic platform with sources/ sinks configured in a 2D-array format, using our previously reported 3D manufacturing technique to construct a 3D micro-/ nanochannel network based on microchannel-engraved through-hole films (MTF). 30 The 2D microfluidic source/sink array (2D-MSA) device can integrate an array of membrane-like structures in various configurations, facilitating the generation of various quasi-2D solute concentration fields in the plane domain, as illustrated in Figure S1B. Within the 2D-MSA device, cascaded microstructures allow the membrane array to be immersed in the middle of the entire planar fluidic domain, while vertical through-holes enable the connection and control of the immersed source/sink array with external control channels in an out-of-plane direction.…”

“…In this paper, we present a microfluidic platform with sources/sinks configured in a 2D-array format, using our previously reported 3D manufacturing technique to construct a 3D micro-/nanochannel network based on microchannel-engraved through-hole films (MTF) . The 2D microfluidic source/sink array (2D-MSA) device can integrate an array of membrane-like structures in various configurations, facilitating the generation of various quasi-2D solute concentration fields in the plane domain, as illustrated in Figure S1B.…”