• Proceedings of the KSME Conference
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• 2007.05a
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• pp.426-428
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• 2007

A simple method is presented for fabricating micro/nanoscale combined hierarchical structures using a two-step UV-assisted capillary molding technique. This lithographic method consists of two steps: (i) fabrication of partially cured polymer microstructures using a PDMS mold and (ii) subsequent nanofabrication using a high-resolution polyurethane acrylate (PUA) mold on top of the pre-formed microstructures. Using this technique, various micro/nano hierarchical structures were fabricated with minimum resolution down to 70 nm over a large area with very good reproducibility.

• Design & Manufacturing
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• v.16 no.3
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• pp.58-65
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• 2022

Micro-fluidic chip has been fabricated by lithography process on silicon or glass wafer, casting using PDMS, injection molding of thermoplastics or 3D printing, etc. Among these processes, 3D printing can fabricate micro-fluidic chip directly from the design without master or template for fluidic channel fabricated previously. Due to this direct printing, 3D printing provides very fast and economical method for prototyping micro-fluidic chip comparing to conventional fabrication process such as lithography, PDMS casting or injection molding. Although 3D printing is now used more extensively due to this fast and cheap process done automatically by single printing machine, there are some issues on accuracy or surface characteristics, etc. The accuracy of the shape and size of the micro-channel is limited by the resolution of the printing and printing direction or layering direction in case of SLM type of 3D printing using UV curable resin. In this study, the printing direction and thickness of each printing layer are investigated to see the effect on the size, shape and surface of the micro-channel. A set of micro-channels with different size was designed and arrayed orthogonal. Micro-fluidic chips are 3D printed in different directions to the micro-channel, orthogonal, parallel, or skewed. The shape of the cross-section of the micro-channel and the surface of the micro-channel are photographed using optical microscopy. From a series of experiments, an optimal printing direction and process conditions are investigated for 3D printing of micro-fluidic chip.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2010.08a
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• pp.287-287
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• 2010

We report a new direct patterning method, called liquid bridge-mediated nanotransfer molding (LB-nTM), for the formation of two- or three-dimensional structures with feature sizes between tens of nanometers and tens of micron over large areas. LB-nTM is based on the direct transfer of various materials from a mold to a substrate via a liquid bridge between them. This procedure can be adopted for automated direct printing machines that generate patterns of functional materials with a wide range of feature sizes on diverse substrates. Arrays of TIPS-PEN TFTs were fabricated on 4" polyethersulfone (PES) substrates by LB-nTM using PDMS molds. An inverted staggered structure was employed in the TFT device fabrication. A 150 nm-thick indium-tin oxide (ITO) gate electrode and a 200 nm-thick SiO2dielectric layer were formed on a PES substrate by sputter deposition. An array of TIPS-PEN patterns (thickness: 60 nm) as active channel layers was fabricated on the substrate by LB-nTM. The nominal channel length of the TIPS-PEN TFT was 10 mm, while the channel width was 135 mm. Finally, the source and drain electrodes of 200 nm-thick Ag were defined on the substrate by LB-nTM. The TIPS-PEN TFTs can endure strenuous bending and are also transparent in the visible range, and therefore potentially useful for flexible and invisible electronics.

• 한국정보디스플레이학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2003.07a
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• pp.788-790
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• 2003

Closed-cell type barrier ribs of PDP were formed by capillary molding process using molds prepared by inclined UV lithography process. Various types of molds with different inclined angles were prepared by patterning SU-8 thick photoresist film and casting with PDMS. The ribs with various type cells were successfully formed by the process. The effects of inclined angle on the distortion of barrier ribs during sintering were investigated. The results indicated that the barrier ribs with a draft angle and dimensional change does not affect the distortion of the barrier ribs during sintering, suggesting that the closed-cell must be isotropic in sintering shrinkage.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.32 no.9
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• pp.728-732
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• 2008

This paper presents ion-based micro vibration sensor for the ultra-high frequency vibration detection. Presented sensor uses the motion of anion and cation in an electrolyte. Electrolyte vibration sensors have the high shock survival characteristics and a simple read-out circuit because of the small mass and own charges of ions. Presented sensor measures the induced electric potential by the mechanical-electrical coupling. It consist of electrolyte chamber and detection electrode. Electrolyte chamber was fabricated by PDMS molding. Detection electrode was made of gold evaporation on pyrex glass. Size of electrolyte chamber was designed as $600{\times}600{\times}100um$. Detection electrode had 200nm-thick and 42um-gap. In the experimental study, 5.8M sodium Chloride (NaCl) solution was used as electrolyte in 36nl-chamber. Mechanical vibration was measured from 2kHz to 4MHz.

• KSBB Journal
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• v.21 no.4
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• pp.273-278
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• 2006

The noble method of hybrid agarose gel microstamp fabricated by replica molding against PDMS master to make bacteria patterns on agar surface was presented. After the fabricated hybrid agarose gel microstamp was inked with E. coli, we could obtain 2 dimensional bacterial arrays with $50{\mu}m$ circular spots. And the various shaped patterns based on experimental design were easily generated. The analysis of mean fluorescent signal was showed that bacterial pattern have high contrast between spots and background and homogeneity of pattern. Our proposed method solved the problem of wetting and handling with small soft agarose gel microstamp when bacteria were used for ink. The agarose gel stamp provides appropriate environment to inked bacteria, which is essential technology for cell patterning with high retaining viability during the patterning process. This method is reproducible, convenient, rapid, and could be applied to screening system, study of cell-surface interaction, and microbial ecology.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.46 no.6
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• pp.1100-1106
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• 2008

In this study, we presented rapid and simple fabrication method of functionalized surface on various substrates as a universal platform for the selective immobilization of cells. The functionalized surface was achieved by using deposition of polyelectrolyte such as poly(allyamine hydrochloride) (PAH), poly(diallyldimethyl ammonium chloride) (PDAC), poly(4-ammonium styrene sulfonic acid) (PSS), poly(acrylic acid) (PAA) and fabrication of poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) microstructure through micro-molding in capillaries (MIMIC) technique on each glass, poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA), polystyrene (PS) and poly(dimethyl siloxane) (PDMS) substrate. The polyelectrolyte multilayer provides adhesion force via strong electrostatic attraction between cell and surface. On the other hand, PEG microstructures also lead to prevent non-specific binding of cells because of physical and biological barrier. The characteristic of each modified surface was examined by using static contact angle measurement. The modified surface onto several substrates provides appropriate environment for cellular adhesion, which is essential technology for cell patterning with high yield and viability in the micropatterning technology. The proposed method is reproducible, convenient and rapid. In addition, the fabrication process is environmentally friendly process due to the no use of harsh solvent. It can be applied to the fabrication of biological sensor, biomolecules patterning, microelectronics devices, screening system, and study of cell-surface interaction.

• Design & Manufacturing
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.11-16
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• 2021

Recently, three-dimensional (3D) cell culture systems, which are superior to conventional two-dimensional (2D) vascular systems that mimic the in vivo environment, are being actively studied to reproduce drug responses and cell differentiation in organisms. Conventional two-dimensional cell culture methods (scaffold-based and non-scaffold-based) have a limited cell growth rate because the culture cannot supply the culture medium as consistently as microvessels. To solve this problem, we would like to propose a 3D culture system with an environment similar to living cells by continuously supplying the culture medium to the bottom of the 3D cell support. The 3D culture system is a structure in which microvascular structures are combined under a scaffold (agar, collagen, etc.) where cells can settle and grow. First, we have manufactured molds for the formation of four types of microvessel-mimicking chips: width / height ①100 ㎛ / 100 ㎛, ②100 ㎛ / 50 ㎛, ③ 150 ㎛ / 100 ㎛, and ④ 200 ㎛ / 100 ㎛. By injection molding, four types of microfluidic chips were made with GPPS (general purpose polystyrene), and a 100㎛-thick PDMS (polydimethylsiloxane) film was attached to the top of each microfluidic chip. As a result of observing the flow of the culture medium in the microchannel, it was confirmed that when the aspect ratio (height/width) of the microchannel is 1.5 or more, the fluid flows from the inlet to the outlet without a backflow phenomenon. In addition, the culture efficiency experiments of colorectal cancer cells (SW490) were performed in a 3D culture system in which PDMS films with different pore diameters (1/25/45 ㎛) were combined on a microfluidic chip. As a result, it was found that the cell growth rate increased up to 1.3 times and the cell death rate decreased by 71% as a result of the 3D culture system having a hole membrane with a diameter of 10 ㎛ or more compared to the conventional commercial. Based on the results of this study, it is possible to expand and build various 3D cell culture systems that can maximize cell culture efficiency by cell type by adjusting the shape of the microchannel, the size of the film hole, and the flow rate of the inlet.

• Korean Journal of Optics and Photonics
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.79-84
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• 2005

To increase the tolerance for passive fiber alignment, a single mode polymer waveguide with a large core structure is demonstrated. The large core waveguide is designed to have a mode profile comparable to that of a thermally expanded core (TEC) fiber, and it can be connected to a high-contrast waveguide through an adiabatic transition taper structure. From a waveguide with a rectangular core of 25 ${\times}$ 25 ${\mu}{\textrm}{m}$$^2$, a single mode propagation is observed when the index contrast is as low as 0.0005. A UV-cured injection molding method is used to fabricate the thick core structure. Due to the large mode size, the insertion loss of the device is below 0.5 dB until the lateral displacement of the TEC fiber is 4.5 ${\mu}{\textrm}{m}$. The low insertion loss is important for reproducible passive alignment.

• 한국생물공학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2005.04a
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• pp.19-19
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• 2005

This paper reports a novel magnetic force-based microfluidic immunoassay using microbeads and magnetic nanoparticles. The magnetic force-based immunoassay was devised first and successfully applied to detect the rabbit IgG as the model analyte of microfluidic sandwich immunoassay. The microchannels were fabricated by poly(dimethysiloxane) (PDMS) molding processes and bonded on a slide glass by plasma treatment. At the part of the inlet, sample solution was hydrodynamically focused. The focused microbeads of sample solution were flowed through the 150 ${\mu}m$ width channel of outlet. However, when the microbeads are conjugated with the superparamagnetic nanoparticles under the applied magnetic fields, they will switch their flow path and flow through the 95 ${\mu}m$ width channel of outlet. The movements of microbeads conjugated with magnetic nanoparticles were demonstrated by magnetic field $gradients.^{1)}$ High magnetic field gradients using micro electromagnets could be applied to this detection method for high sensitivity and lower detection limit. In addition, the multiplexed $immunoassay^{2)}$ using an encoded microbead which is immobilized with a certain antibody could be possible using this detection principle.