Micropatterning

We provide micropattening services for microstructured and fluidic chips production.
We use different techniques according to the pattern to manufacture: maskless photolithography (structures on several different photoresists), wet etching on glass substrates and metallic coatings deposition (Chrome-Etching).

Maskless Photolithography

After substrate surface preparation, photoresist is spin coated to get a layer with uniform thickness. The photoresist-coated wafer is then "prebaked" (soft-bake) to drive off excess solvent and prepare the photoresist for the exposure to the laser beam. The photoresist is exposed to a laser beam that follows the trajectories of the pattern (maskless photolithography system).
The final step involves the development of the exposed photoresist. A second heating step (hard-bake) is done to stabilize the pattern onto the substrat surface.
Example:  PDMS molds for micro-contact printing.

Please contact This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it for the dimensions of your patterns (heigth of photoresist layer and width of the channels).

Wet-etching on glass

Following the photolithography process, a liquid ("wet") chemical agent can be used to remove the uppermost layer of the glass substrate in the areas that are not protected by photoresist: this is the wet-etching process.
Example: Microchannels manufacturing for microfluidic chips

Please contact This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it for the size of your structure (width and depth of microchannels).

Wet-etching on metallic layers

A layer of chrome (for instance) can be deposited using a vapour deposition technique. The microstructures are produced by wet-etching through the metallic layer. These supports permit deep chemical etching. 
Example:  Production of optical patterns and targets.

Please contact This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it for the about the type of metal, the layer thickness to deposit an d the width of the microchannels.

Reference	Designation
LC-22x22	Photolithography on glass substrates.Custom micropattern
WEC-22x22	Glass Wet-etching. Custom microstructure according to your pattern
CEC-22x22	Chrome Etching. Glass substrates. Microstructures according to your pattern

Pictures

Molds for Microcontact Printing (µCP)

Glass Wet-etching

Wet-etching on metallic layers