Biocompatible “click” wafer bonding for microfluidic devices

Abstract

We introduce a novel dry wafer bonding concept designed for permanent attachment of micromolded polymer structures to surface functionalized silicon substrates. The method, designed for simultaneous fabrication of many lab-on-chip devices, utilizes a chemically reactive polymer microfluidic structure, which rapidly bonds to a functionalized substrate via “click” chemistry reactions. The microfluidic structure consists of an off-stoichiometry thiol-ene (OSTE) polymer with a very high density of surface bound thiol groups and the substrate is a silicon wafer that has been functionalized with common bio-linker molecules. We demonstrate here void free, and low temperature (< 37 °C) bonding of a batch of OSTE microfluidic layers to a silane functionalized silicon wafer.