Photo-Activation Bonding of Cyclo-Olefin Polymer Plates: Evaluation of the Bonding Strength and Application to Micro-Fluidic Chips

Abstract

For application to synthetic resin parts and to the fabrication of microfluidic devices made of cyclo-olefin polymer (COP), an adhesiveless bonding technology was developed: photo-activation bonding. A Xe excimer lamp irradiating vacuum ultraviolet (VUV) light of 172 nm wavelength was used as a light source for COP surface modification. The surface modification procedure is extremely simple. A COP plate placed in air with atmospheric pressure is irradiated with the VUV light. Based on VUV photochemistry assisted with atmospheric oxygen, a modified layer including large amounts of polar functional groups (-OH, -CHO, -COOH, etc.) is formed on the COP plate. The VUV-modified COP plates were bonded at a low temperature through attractive interactions between the modified layers on the COP plates without deforming the plates＇ preformed microstructures. A strength test of bonding was conducted to elucidate the effects of surface modification and bonding conditions such as VUV-irradiation distance (d VUV ), VUV-irradiation time (t VUV ), bonding pressure (P B ), bonding temperature (T B ), and bonding time (t B ).

Heterogeneous bonding between cyclo‐olefin polymer (COP) and glass‐like substrate by newly developed water vapor‐assisted plasma, Aqua Plasma Cleaner

“…However, when using quartz or other glass materials, the microchannel must be formed by etching, and this results in increased production time and higher costs. Cyclo‐olefin polymer (COP) is a resin, and has low autofluorescence in the background and in which microchannel patterns can easily be formed by imprinting or the like. As such, there are high expectations for the use of COP in microchannel devices.…”

Heterogeneous Bonding Between Cyclo-olefin Polymer (COP) and Glass-like Substrate by Newly Developed Water Vapor Assisted Plasma, Aqua Plasma Cleaner

“…However, when using quartz or other glass materials, the microchannel must be formed by etching, and this results in increased production time and higher costs. Cyclo-olefin polymer (COP) is a resin, 1 and has low autofluorescence in the background and in which microchannel patterns can easily be formed by imprinting or the like. As such, there are high expectations for the use of COP in microchannel devices.…”