Devices soft lithography

An alternative microfabrication technique is based on replication moulding. An elastomer is patterned by curing on a micromechanical mold. This technique is termed soft lithography , and is used to make blazed grating optics, stamps for chemical patterning and microfluidics devices. Soft lithography is essentially a subtractive method. 

A final mention should be made of the use of polysiloxanes in the area of microfluidics.377 381 Devices of this type have to have channels or capillaries with dimensions 10-10,000 pm, and their preparation is relatively straightforward with PDMS, using the soft-lithography techniques just described to make the required molds. 

PDMS), to replicate patterns from a master by molding. PD MS is inexpensive, biocompatible, gas permeable, amenable to surface modification, and optically transparent [15]. Soft lithography enables high-volume production of disposable devices and lowers the cost for frequent design changes common in biological research. 

The soft lithography method was developed for rapidly and inexpensively fabricating microfluidic devices with channels >20 pm width using... 

Newer techniques such as soft lithography allow the scientist to construct a three-dimensional device with networks of channels and do not require clean rooms. The dry film resists technique enables production of hybrid biochips with active elements in both the top and bottom substrates. The ultimate choice of technique depends on a number of factors, such as the availability and capability of the technologies, cost and speed of manufacture and the substrate being used. 

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