Fabrication of epoxy stamps for hot embossing microfluidic devices and sub-micron structures

Polymeric materials have been increasingly used to fabricate microfluidic devices as an inexpensive alternative to glass or silicon devices. Hot embossing is a favourable method for the development of these polymeric devices, however the stamping tools used with this technique are quite expensive, have time consuming fabrication procedures, and can be fragile. A method has been developed using micro-molding to create a high temperature epoxy clone for a number of masters. The epoxy masters are embossed into polymeric materials under conditions of increased temperature and pressure. The resulting polymeric structures can be micron to sub-micron in size. This method of utilizing epoxy stamps as a reusable master clone decreases the overall cost of producing polymeric microfluidic devices, and increases the lifetime of the masters used.