Slump Molding of Microchannel Arrays in Soda Lime Glass for Bioanalytical Device Development

Abstract

A slump molding process was developed to place microchannel geometries in a sodalime glass substrate for a labonchip bioanalytical device. The process was developed to overcome the biological and chemical reactivity associated with current polymer labonachip substrates, and as an alternative to using more expensive glass material. A high speed micro mill and UV laser micromachining center were used to fabricate the negative geometries in the graphite mold material that was used. The slumping process of the sodalime glass was done using a glass kiln. Microchannel dimensions were in the mesa scale range of 50 خ¼m width أ— 10 خ¼m depth. The heating schedule for slump molding of the sodalime glass to take its final shape to these dimensions was determined and documented. The functionality of the slumping process and resultant sodalime glass device was validated through murine nerve tissue experiments conducted through the bioanalytical device that was developed. The research represented a novel use of slump molding, a process traditionally known for producing artistic works for: (a) embossing engineered microchannels and (b) reliably processing a sodalime glass substrate, a material known to be difficult to work with due to its poor physical properties.