Hybrid microfluidic cartridge formed by irreversible bonding of SU-8 and PDMS for multi-layer flow applications

SU-8 and polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) are both transparent materials with properties very convenient for rapid prototyping of microfluidic systems. However, previous efforts of combining these two materials failed due to poor adhesion between them. Herein, we introduce a promising low-temperature technique (<100 degrees C) to irreversibly bond two or more structured layers of SU-8 and PDMS to create hybrid stacks. This offers new possibilities in design and fabrication of enclosed three-dimensional microstructures and microchannels with simple soft-lithography techniques. The potential of this method is demonstrated by the fabrication of a new version of our microfluidic sensor cartridge that was reported recently(1).