Ultrashort laser micromachined low cost microfluidic chip for cell sorting application

Abstract

Over the years, many techniques were used for diagnosing malignant cells which uses antibodies, biomarkers, microfluidic chips and nanostructures to capture the malignant cells. Among these techniques, Microfluidic Lab-on Chip technology is an efficient solution as it helps in the development of a user friendly device at low cost when batch fabricated. Microfluidic lab on chip devices has become an essential tool in the biomedical field as it is preferred for point-of-care diagnosis at a low cost. In my research thesis, the microfluidic chip was designed with components like micro-holes and microchannel to separate the malignant cells flowing through it, leaving all the other cells to flow free. The microfluidic components like micro-hole were designed with 9and#956;m diameter and microchannel with 10 and#956;m width. The dimension optimization of the micro-hole and microchannel was done using the COMSOL simulation tool. For the development of microfluidic components, the conventional material - silicon and upcoming material - cyclic olefin polymer were considered. In spite of massive development in the field of Microfluidic device technology, the conventional method of fabrication is a long step process, expensive, time-consuming and complex. The most commonly used conventional techniques for the manufacturing of Microfluidic devices are photolithography, wet etching, dry etching, reactive ion etching, micromilling, injection molding and hot embossing. All the above the technique provides an accurate generation of Microfluidic device patterns but with major drawbacks, as it requires a mold and chemical reagents (based on the material used for the development of Microfluidic device) during fabrication. To overcome the difficulties in the fabrication techniques, femtosecond laser micromachining was used newline