Hot embossing of micro-featured devices

Polymer microfabrication methods are becoming increasingly important as low-cost alternatives to the silicon or glass-based MEMS technologies. In this study, micro molding via hot embossing was applied to micro-featured used for DNA/RNA test. LIGA like process using UV light aligner was used to prepare silicon based SU-8 photoresist followed by electroforming to make Ni-Co based stamp. The micro features in the stamp with 5 inch diameter size and 0.2 mm thickness includes 30 mu m in depth by 100 mu m in width micro-channel size and 50 mu m pitch size. PMMA film of 1 mm thickness was utilized as molding substrate. Effect of molding conditions on the replication accuracy was investigated. The imprint width, imprint depth and angle of sidewall of micro-channels were analyzed and correlated. It was found that the molding condition including applied force and embossing temperature are found to all affect the molding accuracy significantly. The imprint depth increases with the imprint force until a saturation value. The imprint depth also increases with the embossing temperature until a saturation value. Basically, 20 kN and 180 degrees C for applied force and embossing temperature can obtain acceptable results when considering molding cycle time. However, 25 kN and 220 degrees C, respectively, under 5 minutes embossing time can obtain a nearly perfect replication in our experiment.