As part of our lithography services we provide since 2013 multi-layer master wafers for micro fluidic applications made of epoxy based resists. This patterns are generated using UV-contact-lithography and are intended for e.g. cell biological studies and usually the microfluidic chip is replicated from the master wafer by the customer himself (see work flow below). As the University of Basel developed the “Dual Input Mother Machine“ design in 2014 and provided the design and the software for the image analysis on the Metafluidics website to the public in 2017, micro resist technology has been established as a master manufacturer for microfluidics and is recommended at the project website:
https://metafluidics.org/devices/dual-input-mother-machine
With the “Dual Input Mother Machine” the long-term growth of rod-shaped bacteria, e.g. E. coli, could be analyzed under precisely controllable environmental conditions for the first time and Matthias Kaiser from the University of Basel was able to publish his work in Nature Communications in 2018 – again with micro resist technology mentioned as the provider for microfluidic master patterns:
Kaiser, M. et al. Monitoring single-cell gene regulation under dynamically controllable conditions with integrated microfluidics and software. Nat Commun 9, 212 (2018)
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-017-02505-0
Key facts of microfluidic masters by micro resist technology:
- UV-exposed masters based on epoxy resists
- Resist masters with up to 4 different layers
- Up to 150mm wafers
- Smallest dimension and precision:
- lateral: 0,6µm
- film thickness: 0,3µm
- alignment precision: 0,5 µm (100mm Wafer)
- Optionally coated with anti sticking layer
Fabricated for more than 30 institutes and universities all over the world