Re:Replacing $100K diagnostic chip fab with Shrinky-Dinks an...
by regularfry on Monday November 09, 2009 @03:31PM
(#931676)
It surprises me that 5/8ths is enough of a difference to be useful, but then I guess it's the way it bunches and forms a ridge that's important for the microfluidics, not the absolute feature size. Hm.
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Re:Replacing $100K diagnostic chip fab with Shrinky-Dinks an...
by aarongough on Monday November 09, 2009 @05:15PM
(#931864)
It didn't strike me that 5/8ths wasn't actually a huge amount until I thought about it.
If the ability to form troughs/ridges is the important thing then I think that the PCB etch/make mold technique would be just as useful. But I'm not sure what the smallest feature size is that you can make with this method:
PCB etch/make mold method:
Laser-print an inverse pattern mask on clear plastic film
Expose a UV sensitive photoresist PCB using the mask
Etch the PCB
Make a polymer mold (or mold the final part) using the troughs/ridges formed by the etched/unetched copper on the PCB
I know this method has been used for replicating fingerprint patterns in the past (Mythbusters!) and I remember hearing it being used for a few other things...