Perforated membrane method for fabricating three-dimensional polydimethylsiloxane microfluidic devices

Abstract

A procedure is described for making layer-to-layer interconnections in polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) microfluidic devices. Thin (∼50 μm) perforated PDMS membranes are bonded to thicker (0.1 cm or more) PDMS slabs by means of thermally cured PDMS prepolymer to form a three-dimensional (3D) channel structure, which may contain channel or valve arrays that can pass over and under one another. Devices containing as many as two slabs and three perforated membranes are demonstrated. We also present 3D PDMS microfluidic devices for display and for liquid dispensing.