KR100724099B1 - Microfluidic Mixer using Multiple Microchannel array and Manufacturing Method therefor - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a microfluidic mixer, and a microfluidic structure having a simple structure formed by microfabricating and bonding a device for mixing microfluids having different properties to a general commercial glass substrate using a femtosecond laser. The present invention relates to the manufacture of a mixer device, by introducing a microfluidics-based technology applied in the medical and medical fields as a new concept device manufacturing technology to a microfluidic mixer, thereby easily introducing two microfluids using simple multiple microchannels. The present invention is characterized in that it can be mixed, and in the present invention, a microfluidic mixer device is configured by a capillary tube connecting a mixer and a pump for injecting a sample, a multi-channel mixer processed using a femtosecond laser.

Multichannel, Microfluidic, Femtosecond Laser, Mixer, Galvano Scanner, Glass Board

Description

Microfluidic mixer using multiple microchannel array and manufacturing method therefor}

1 is a schematic view showing an entire system for processing an inlet of a channel and a sample using a femtosecond laser system on a commercial glass substrate of the present invention;

FIG. 2 exemplarily illustrates a method of manufacturing a microfluidic mixer using a direct bonding method by facing another commercially available glass substrate to a processed commercial glass substrate.

3 is a view schematically showing a mixer device manufactured according to the present invention;

Figure 4 is a photograph showing the results of the ink mixing experiment for testing the mixing performance of the mixer device manufactured using the system of the present invention.

<Explanation of symbols for the main parts of the drawings>

1: computer 2: femtosecond laser generator

3: galvano scanner 4: glass substrate

5: control unit 6: beam focusing unit

11: mixer section 14: fine channel processing glass substrate

16: upper glass substrate 17: capillary tube

20: mixer

The present invention relates to a microfluidic mixer apparatus capable of mixing a fluid in a microtubule using a commercially available soda lime glass substrate, and more specifically, to a glass substrate using a femtosecond laser. It was developed to produce a microfluidic mixing technology that has not been achieved by other methods so far.

Recently, many researches and developments have been made on various types of micrometer-sized devices capable of controlling and transporting very small amounts of microfluids, as well as a combination thereof. In particular, the development of these devices has been applied and used in various fields, such as the promotion of micro conveyances, inkjet printer heads and automotive engine nozzles, and fine chemical and biochemical analysis.

In such microfluidic processes, the mixing of fluids is also important, but the flow phenomenon in microfluidic tubes of several hundred micrometers or less is different from that of macroscopic fluids. That is, in the macro fluid, the two liquids are well mixed with each other, but in the microfluidic tube, the size of the tube is small, so that the Reynolds number becomes small, and thus, there is no significant turbulence in the fluid mixing. There is this.

Therefore, in the conventional microfluidic mixing technique, there are methods such as repeatedly forming fine grooves in a channel or inserting a small propeller into a microtubule in order to artificially form turbulence, but manufacturing and processing are difficult.

However, in recent years, a technique using a femtosecond laser (Femto Second Laser) when processing a brittle material such as glass using a laser is widely known, it can be processed without the influence of heat, the surface is very clean, In the case of a brittle material, it is widely used for the reason that it does not crack, and also a high melting point material is easy to process.

Therefore, the present inventors have attempted femtosecond laser processing experiments for producing a microfluidic tube, and thus, the present invention has been invented as a result of many repeated experiments.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a method for manufacturing a microfluidic mixer, in which microfluids can be easily mixed by processing multiple microchannels on a low-cost commercial glass substrate using a femtosecond laser.

The present invention also utilizes the phenomenon that the speed increases as the distance from the wall, which is an inherent property of the microfluid, is not complicated, in order to form turbulence. In other words, the flow velocity is the fastest in the center of the channel. When using multiple channels, the speed in the center channel is the fastest, and when it comes out to a single channel, the fluid from the center channel spreads by the speed, and is used as a mixer.

As a manufacturing technology of the device related to the present invention, first, the development of a technology that can be microfabricated on a commercial glass substrate using a femtosecond laser, second, the development of capillary bonding technology for sample input, third, the direct bonding of glass substrate Technology and packaging skills are important.

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a method for manufacturing a device for mixing tens of micrometer-class microfluid, comprising the steps of: designing a microfluidic mixer having multiple microchannels;

Processing the microfluidic mixer designed on the glass substrate using a femtosecond laser;

Bonding a separate glass substrate onto the processed glass substrate with the microfluidic mixer; And, it provides a method of manufacturing a microfluidic mixer device having multiple micro-channels comprising the step of bonding the capillary tube to the microfluidic mixer portion formed by bonding the separate glass substrate.

In addition, in the present invention, when the microfluidic mixer is processed on the glass substrate, the beam generated by the femtosecond laser is deflected through the galvano scanner, and the beam deflected through the galvano scanner is focused through the F-theta lens and then the glass substrate. Can be investigated.

Furthermore, in the present invention, the bonding of the glass substrate processed with the mixer unit and the separate glass substrate is performed by applying heat.

According to another aspect of the present invention, as a microfluidic mixer having multiple microchannels, two or more microchannels are formed by a femtosecond laser, and capillaries having a fine diameter are respectively joined to inlets and outlets of the microchannels. A microfluidic mixer with multiple microchannels is provided.

Hereinafter, a system for manufacturing a microfluidic mixer device according to the present invention and a manufacturing method using the same will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings showing a preferred embodiment.

Figure 1 shows a system for manufacturing a microfluidic mixer device according to the present invention, a commercial glass substrate 4 using a laser beam generated in the femtosecond laser generator 2 as shown The microfluidic mixer section is processed into a bar, and the structure of the microfluidic mixer section is produced as Auto Cad on the computer 1.

On the other hand, the laser beam to be formed on the glass substrate 4 to form the mixer portion constituting the microfluidic mixer device of the present invention is switched path through the galvano scanner 3 to form the mixer portion on the glass substrate 4 , The galvano scanner 3 deflects the beam in the X-axis direction and the Y-axis direction in accordance with a control signal from the control unit 5 without moving the glass substrate 4 to be processed (F-theta lens). A channel and an inlet of the mixer may be formed on the glass substrate 4 via the beam focusing part 6 formed of a lens.

The femtosecond laser used in the fabrication system of the microfluidic mixer device as described above has a pulse emission time of 10 ^-13 to 10 ^-15 invitations of less than 1 pico-second and a focal size of several micrometers (um). It is possible. The laser beam generated by the femtosecond laser generator 2 may be made to attenuate the output of the laser beam by controlling the transmittance of the laser beam through a beam splitter (not shown) and polarizing plates for changing the polarization direction of the laser beam. In addition, the diaphragm may be installed so that the edge shape having a low output density is removed before being transmitted to the galvano scanner 3 so that the beam shape is close to the source.

In addition, in the present invention, as described above, the glass substrate 4 on which the mixer portion of the microfluid is to be formed is preferably disposed in a vacuum chamber equipped with a blower and a suction device for removing the glass residue generated during processing of the mixer portion. The glass substrate 4 is preferably fixedly installed through a support mechanism in the vacuum chamber. In addition, the vacuum chamber in which the glass substrate 4 is fixedly installed is equipped with an appropriate monitoring mechanism such as a CCD camera for signaling the status screen on which the mixer unit is processed on the glass substrate 4 and transmitting the signal to the controller 5. This is preferred.

In the apparatus for manufacturing a microfluidic mixer of the present invention, the control unit 5 is preferably configured to be electrically connected to the computer 1 and the laser generating unit 2 and the galvano scanner 3 to transmit a control signal. Of course, it can also be electrically connected to other necessary electrically operated devices.

Next, the configuration and manufacturing process of the multi-channel microfluidic mixer apparatus processed by the mixer through the microfluidic mixer apparatus manufacturing system having the above-described configuration will be described below.

As shown in FIG. 2, another commercial glass substrate 16 is bonded to the upper portion of the glass substrate 14 on which the microfluidic mixer part 11 manufactured through the system is formed. ) Is to form a microfluidic mixer device by joining the capillary tube 17 so that the inlet and outlet of the fluid can communicate without clogging.

The microfluidic mixer device 20 constructed and manufactured as described above is illustrated in FIG. 2, and the manufacturing process thereof will be described in detail as follows.

First, it is necessary to create the configuration of the mixer section constituting the multi-microchannel microfluidic mixer apparatus to be produced on the computer 1 using autocad.

Next, it is necessary to fix and install the glass substrate 4 to process a mixer part to a support (not shown).

Subsequently, the multiple microchannels, inlets, and outlets of the mixer unit are processed on the glass substrate 4, which is performed by operating the femtosecond laser generator 2 under the control of the controller 5. The width and depth of the microchannels processed on the commercial glass substrate 4 may be determined at the level of ˜30 um and ˜300 um by increasing the number of iterations. Processing of such a depth may be performed, for example, by observing the shape of the mixer section through, for example, a CCD camera installed on a vacuum chamber on which the glass substrate to be processed is supported.

Next, another commercially available glass, as shown in FIG. 2, undergoes a reforming process for introducing a hydrophilic group to the surface of the processed glass substrate 14 by the mixer part 11 composed of multiple microchannels and inlets. (16) butt-bonded on it. Bonding of the glass substrate 14 on which the mixer part in which the multiple microchannels are processed and the other commercial glass substrate 16 is preferably performed through a predetermined cleaning, washing and drying process, and also undergoes a predetermined surface mirroring treatment. Is preferred.

The bonding process between the glass substrate and the glass substrate is performed by van der Waals forces in an ambient temperature atmosphere. The covalent bond generated by the chemical reaction between the hydroxyl group (OH) on the surface of the glass substrate prevents the direct bonding of the glass substrates. To make it possible.

In other words, due to the weak hydrogen bond between the groups of the hydrophilic groups present on the surface of the hydrophilic group, when the two substrates are bonded together at room temperature without any external pressure or temperature change, weak bonding occurs. The heat treatment temperature and time at this time is preferably performed at 600 degrees for about 6 hours.

Next, in the microfluidic mixer device manufactured as described above, a capillary tube 17 having an appropriate fine diameter may be joined to the inlet and the outlet so that the microchannel, the inlet, and the outlet of the microfluidic mixer can communicate without clogging. At this time, the capillary tube 17 is preferably inserted and joined to the inlet and outlet.

Through the above process to produce a microfluidic mixer device 20 having multiple microchannels as shown in Figs. 2 and 3, in this embodiment, the microchannel is manufactured in the form of two inlets and two outlets. Although the example has been described, it can be configured as a form having other three or more micro-channels.

In the microfluidic mixer device having such a microchannel, when samples to be mixed are injected through two inlets 1a, the samples are mixed in the channel and come out through two outlets 11b.

Experiments were conducted to more specifically test the effect of the microfluidic mixer having multiple microchannels prepared according to the present invention. That is, as shown in FIG. 4, when the ink mixing in the 300 μm single channel 100 for comparison was examined, it can be seen that almost no mixing, the right 30 μm multi-channel 200 of the present invention example In the inlet, the two inks do not mix, but in the outflow it can be seen that more than 40%. This experiment is the result of passing through multiple channels once, and it is expected that the mixing will be improved if more channels are actually passed through.

As described above, according to the present invention, when a microfluidic mixer device is manufactured by forming a channel using a femtosecond laser, a clean facility is not required and the cost is low compared to a wet etching method using a conventional mask.

In addition, by forming a simple multi-channel rather than a complex structure has the advantage that can reduce the time required to manufacture the device.

While the present invention has been described in connection with the preferred embodiments, those skilled in the art will understand that various changes and modifications can be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as set forth in the claims below, all of which belong to the invention. Self-explanatory

Claims (5)

CLAIMS 1. A method for manufacturing a device for mixing tens of micrometers of microfluid, comprising: designing a microfluidic mixer with multiple microchannels; Processing the microfluidic mixer designed on the glass substrate using a femtosecond laser; Bonding a separate glass substrate onto the processed glass substrate with the microfluidic mixer; In the method of manufacturing a microfluidic mixer device having multiple micro-channels comprising the step of bonding a capillary tube to the microfluidic mixer portion to which the separate glass substrate is bonded; A method of manufacturing a microfluidic mixer having multiple microchannels, wherein a beam generated from a femtosecond laser is deflected through a galvano scanner when the microfluidic mixer is processed on a glass substrate. delete The method of claim 1, wherein the beam deflected through the galvano scanner is irradiated onto the glass substrate after the beam focusing is performed through the F-theta lens. The method of manufacturing a microfluidic mixer having multiple microchannels according to claim 1, wherein the bonding of the glass substrate processed with the mixer unit and the separate glass substrate is performed by applying heat. A microfluidic mixer having multiple microchannels manufactured according to any one of claims 1, 3, and 4, wherein the microchannels are formed by two or more microchannels, and the inlet and outlet of the microchannels are formed. The microfluidic mixer device having multiple microchannels, each capillary having a fine diameter is bonded to each other.

Images