TW201426844A - Manufacturing method of micro-channel structure - Google Patents

Abstract

A manufacturing method for micro-channel structure mainly forms a micrometer-sized groove on the processed surface of a substrate and then coats a composite multi-layer coated film comprising two different etching difficulties formed by stacking each other. The composite multi-layer coated film is fully filled with the groove and then is worn out a portion of the composite multi-layer coated film located above the processed surface. The film layer having the feature of easily coating thereon is removed by means of selective etching to reach a predetermined depth without etching the substrate and the film layer having etching difficulty feature. The tiny micro-channel structure then is formed on the processed surface of the substrate. Further, a cover plate is pasted on the substrate to form a component having the micro-channel. Accordingly, by regulating the thickness of the film layer having the feature of easily coating thereon, the pore diameter of the micro-channel is easily controlled within a scope from nanometer to micrometer.

Description

Method for manufacturing microchannel structure

The invention relates to a method for manufacturing a microchannel structure, in particular to a microfluidic device technology field applicable to industries such as chemical industry, material or pharmaceutical, so that a microreactor in the microfluidic device can easily produce nanometer. A method of manufacturing a microchannel structure to a micrometer-scale pore size.

Microfluidic devices such as microreactors are used in general dispensing, drug delivery, high-density formulations, analytical equipment, clinical diagnostics and veterinary diagnostics, point-of-care testing, industrial testing and environmental testing, pharmaceutical and life sciences, and microreaction technology. In the field. For example, in the fields of chemical engineering, materials and pharmaceuticals, the application of microreactors is an important technical means to improve the quality of reaction products and improve the efficiency of the process. The microfluidic channels in the microreactor provide good fluid mixing and heat transfer performance. The microreactor can effectively control the mixing state and reaction temperature of the reactants in the chemical reaction (such as organic synthesis reaction, etc.), thereby improving the selectivity of the chemical reaction.

It is known that among microfluidic components such as microreactors, the microfluidic structure is fabricated by ultraviolet lithography (UV-LIGA) process technology or microelectromechanical system manufacturing technology. Upon completion, the above-mentioned process technology can reach the micro and nano grades. However, the above-mentioned process technologies require the use of expensive masks and precision developing equipment, which imposes a huge economic burden on the cost of mass production. Moreover, the use of micro-electromechanical Components with microchannels (such as mold cores) manufactured by system process technology or ultraviolet lithography (UV-LIGA) process technology are manufactured by deposition, and the microchannel structure has poor rigidity. Defect, not conducive to the large component of the micro flow channel Volume conversion.

The main object of the present invention is to provide a method for manufacturing a microchannel structure, which is improved by the invention, and the method for manufacturing the existing microchannel structure has high equipment cost by using an expensive photomask and a precision developing device, and is deposited by a deposition method. The rigidity of the micro-channel structure is not good.

In order to achieve the foregoing, the method for manufacturing a microchannel structure according to the present invention comprises: providing a substrate having a processed surface; forming a micrometer-scale trench on the upper surface of the substrate; and having a trench on the substrate The processed surface is plated with a composite multi-layer coating comprising two layers of different etching difficulty characteristics, the composite multilayer coating is filled into the trench; and the composite multilayer coating is adjacent to the portion of the trench opening, Exposing a plurality of coating strips at the opening of the substrate trench, the multi-layer coating strips extending along the trench path; removing the layer having easy etching characteristics in the composite multilayer coating at the opening of the trench to a predetermined depth by selective etching to form a micro a micro-channel structure on a nanometer scale; and a cover plate is attached to the surface of the substrate to form a member having a microchannel.

By creating a method of manufacturing a micro flow channel structure, it has at least the following advantages:

1. The manufacturing method of the microchannel structure of the present invention mainly utilizes a simple micron-sized processing technique, a composite multi-layer coating method and a selective etching technique. It can produce micro-channel structures with micron to nanometer scale.

2. The manufacturing method of the microchannel structure of the present invention can select an appropriate film material according to the characteristics of the fluid material to be circulated in the microchannel, and the chemical reaction requirement, such as a hard wear-resistant coating or a corrosion-resistant coating, a reaction catalyst material, etc. Optimize the performance of microchannel components. If a high-rigidity coating material is used, it can also be used as a microstructured mold for a large number of remanufacturing.

3. The manufacturing method of the microchannel structure of the present invention can adjust the film thickness of each film layer in the composite multilayer coating film through the composite multilayer coating process, and can easily adjust the pore size, the pitch, the distribution configuration and the density of the microchannel.

4. The method for manufacturing a microchannel structure according to the present invention can form microchannels having different pore diameters on the same substrate by adjusting the material and thickness of the membrane layer having corrosive characteristics.

5. The method for manufacturing the microchannel structure of the present invention can change the streamline pattern of the microchannel by mechanically processing the micrometer-scale groove flow path layout.

6. The method for fabricating the microchannel structure of the present invention can densely multi-microflow on the substrate by dense multi-channel micro-scale groove processing of the substrate, increase of the number of layers of the composite multi-layer coating stack, and stacking of the micro-channel substrate Road, increasing the channel density in the component.

As shown in FIG. 1 , a flow block diagram of a method for manufacturing a micro flow channel structure of the present invention is disclosed. Referring to FIG. 2 to FIG. 4 , the manufacturing method of the micro flow channel structure of the present invention can be seen from the drawings. The method includes the following steps: providing a substrate 1 having a processing surface 10 on the substrate 1. The substrate 1 is preferably made of a material that is difficult to be corroded by a chemical etching solution (acid or alkali), and is selected from a chemical etching solution. The alkaline solution of sodium (NaOH) is For example, the substrate 1 may be a plate made of a metal material such as titanium (Ti) which is difficult to be corroded by a sodium hydroxide solution; a micron-sized trench 12 is formed on the upper surface of the substrate 1 by laser or A machining method such as mechanical cutting forms a groove 12 having an opening width and a depth of several micrometers to several tens of micrometers on the processing surface 10 of the substrate 1 , which may be set according to requirements, but is not limited thereto, and at least one sidewall of the trench 12 is grooved. The wall surface of the upper end opening of the groove 12 having a depth of several micrometers perpendicularly intersects the processing surface 10 of the substrate 1, and the groove 12 is designed according to a path of a predetermined micro flow path, which may be a straight line, a curved line, a broken line or a combination thereof. Etc., the number, arrangement position and density of the grooves 12 are changed according to the micro flow path layout of the predetermined product; plating on the processing surface 10 having the groove 12 of the substrate 1 includes two different etching difficulty characteristics. The composite multi-layer coating 2 is formed by alternately stacking the layers, and the composite multi-layer coating 2 is filled into the trenches 12, and the two different etching etchable features refer to the materials selected for the subsequent etching steps. Chemical etching solution The acid or alkali liquid is distinguished by the difficulty of corrosion, and is defined as a film layer 20 having an easy etching property and a film layer 21 having a difficult etching property, and an alkaline solution of sodium hydroxide (NaOH) is used as a chemical etching solution. For example, the material of the film layer 21 having a difficult etching property may be a metal such as titanium (Ti) which is not corroded by the sodium hydroxide solution, and the material of the film layer 20 which is easy to etch characteristics may be easily oxidized by aluminum (Al) or the like. a metal etched by the sodium solution; the composite multilayer coating 2 is adjacent to the opening of the trench 12 such that the composite multilayer coating 2 exhibits a plurality of coating stripes adjacent to the opening of the trench 12, the multilayer coating strip extending along the path of the trench 12, The grinding means can be performed by mechanical grinding; The film layer having the easy etching property (ie, the film layer 20 having an easy etching property) in the composite multilayer coating film 2 located at the opening of the trench 12 is removed by a selective etching means to a predetermined depth, but the substrate 1 and the film layer having the hardly etchable property are not etched. 21, a microstructure of the microchannel 22 is formed; and a cover 3 is attached to the processing surface 10 of the substrate 1 to form a member having the microchannel 22.

In the preferred embodiment of the method for fabricating the microchannel structure, the composite surface 10 having the trench 12 on the substrate 1 is plated with a composite layer of the film layer 20 having an easy etching property and the film layer 21 having a hard etching property. The step of the multi-layer coating 2 determines the order of the film layer 20 with easy etching characteristics and the film layer 21 of difficult-to-etch characteristics according to parameters such as the position and number of the predetermined micro-channel structure, wherein: the substrate 1 can have a groove The processed surface 10 of the 12 is sequentially plated with a film layer 21 having a hard-to-etch property, a film layer 20 having an easy-etching property, and a film layer 21 having a hard-to-etch property, etc., to form the composite multilayer film 2, or may be applied to the substrate. The composite multilayer coating 2 is formed by alternately stacking the processed surface 10 having the grooves 12, the film layer 20 having an easily etchable property, the film layer 21 having a hard-to-etch property, and the film layer 20 having an easily etchable property.

In the preferred embodiment of the method for fabricating the microchannel structure, after the selective etching means removes the film layer 20 having an easy etching property to a predetermined depth to form a fine microchannel structure, the substrate may be further flattened by a grinding means. 1 The surface 10 is machined, and the cover sheet 3 is attached to the processed surface 10 of the substrate 1.

The specific implementation of the present invention will be further described below in conjunction with the preferred embodiments shown in the drawings, in which:

As shown in FIG. 2, a groove 12 having an opening width of 14 μm is formed on the machined surface 10 of the top surface of a titanium substrate 1, preferably, the groove 12 side A wall having a depth of about 4 μm from the opening is perpendicular to the machined surface 10, and a 1 μm thick titanium metal layer is sequentially plated on the processed surface 10 of the titanium substrate 1 having the groove 12 (a layer having a hard-to-etch characteristic) 21), a 2 micrometer thick aluminum metal layer (film layer 20 of easy etching property) and a 4 micrometer thick titanium metal layer (film layer 21 of difficult etching property) constitute a three-layer composite multilayer coating film, which is a composite multilayer coating film 2 Filling the trench 12, and secondly, grinding the portion (7 micrometers thick) of the composite multilayer coating 2 on the processed surface 10 of the titanium substrate 1, exposing the processed surface 10 of the titanium substrate 1 and the composite multilayer coating 2 is located at the titanium a portion of the opening of the trench 12 of the substrate 12, the opening of the trench 12 exhibiting a texture structure in which a titanium metal layer (the film layer 21 having a hard-to-etch characteristic) and an aluminum metal layer (a film layer 20 having an easily etchable property) are alternately arranged, and secondly The titanium substrate 1 having the composite multilayer coating 2 is placed in an alkali solution (such as a sodium hydroxide solution of 1 molar concentration) at room temperature, or further etched by ultrasonic vibration for a predetermined time (about 70 After taking out in seconds, at this time, the aluminum at the opening position of the original groove 12 of the titanium substrate 1 A metal layer (film layer 20 etching characteristics Yi) is removed by etching from about 2 microns deep, 2 microns wide and form two, 2 microns deep structure 22 of the micro channel.

As shown in FIG. 3, the groove 12 having an opening width of 14 micrometers is machined on the processing surface 10 of the top surface of a titanium substrate 1, and the sidewall of the trench 12 has a wall surface having a depth of about 4 micrometers from below the opening and the processing. The surface 10 is perpendicular, and a 1 μm thick titanium metal layer (a film layer 21 having a hard-to-etch characteristic) and a 2 μm thick aluminum metal layer are sequentially plated on the processed surface 10 of the titanium substrate 1 having the trenches 12 (easily etchable characteristics) Film layer 20), 1 μm thick titanium metal layer (difficult to etch film layer 21), 2 μm thick aluminum metal layer (easily etchable film layer 20) and 1 μm thick titanium metal layer (difficult to etch The characteristic film layer 21) constitutes a complex of four layers a multi-layer coating 2, which fills the trench 12, and secondly, a portion (7 micrometers thick) of the composite multilayer coating 2 on the processed surface 10 of the titanium substrate 1 is removed to expose the titanium substrate 1. The processing surface 10 and the composite multilayer coating 2 are located at a portion of the opening of the trench 12 of the titanium substrate 1, and the opening of the trench 12 exhibits a titanium metal layer (a film layer 21 having a hard-to-etch characteristic) and an aluminum metal layer (which is easily etched). Characteristic film layer 20) alternately arranged texture structure, and secondly, the titanium substrate 1 having the composite multilayer coating 2 is placed in a room temperature alkali solution (such as a 1 molar concentration sodium hydroxide solution), or further supplemented The ultrasonic wave is oscillated for a predetermined period of time (for example, 1 to 2 minutes), and then the aluminum metal layer (the film layer 20 having an easily etchable property) at the opening position of the original trench 12 of the titanium substrate 1 is removed. The corrosion was removed to a depth of about 2 microns to form four 2 micron wide, 2 micron deep microchannel 22 structures.

As shown in FIG. 4, the groove 12 having an opening width of 14 μm is machined on the processing surface 10 of the top surface of a titanium substrate 1, and the sidewall of the trench 12 has a wall surface having a depth of about 4 μm from the opening and the processing. The surface 10 is perpendicular, and a 2 micrometer thick aluminum metal layer (a film layer 20 having an easy etching property) and a 1 micrometer thick titanium metal layer (difficult to etch characteristics) are sequentially plated on the processed surface 10 of the titanium substrate 1 having the trenches 12. Film layer 21), 2 μm thick aluminum metal layer (film layer 20 with easy etching characteristics), 1 μm thick titanium metal layer (difficult to etch film layer 21) and 2 μm thick aluminum metal layer (easy to etch The characteristic film layer 20) constitutes a five-layer composite multilayer coating 2, which fills the trench 12, and secondly, the portion of the composite multilayer coating 2 on the processed surface 10 of the titanium substrate 1 is removed (8) The micron thick) exposes the processed surface 10 of the titanium substrate 1 and the portion of the composite multilayer coating 2 located at the opening of the trench 12 of the titanium substrate 1. The opening of the trench 12 exhibits a titanium metal layer (a layer having a hard-to-etch characteristic) 21), aluminum gold a texture structure in which the genus layers (the etch-resistant film layer 20) are alternately arranged, and secondly, the titanium substrate 1 having the composite multilayer coating 2 is placed in a room temperature lye (such as a sodium hydroxide solution of 1 molar concentration) or Further, the ultrasonic wave is oscillated for etching for a predetermined time (for example, 1 to 2 minutes), and then the aluminum metal layer (the film layer 20 having an easy etching property) at the opening position of the original trench 12 of the titanium substrate 1 is corroded. A depth of about 2 microns is removed to form a five-dimensional, 2 micron wide, 2 micron deep microchannel 22 structure.

It can be seen from the above description that the manufacturing method of the micro-channel structure of the present invention mainly utilizes a simple micro-scale processing technique, a composite multi-layer coating method and a selective etching technique to manufacture a micro-channel structure of a micron to a nanometer scale, and can In order to optimize the performance of the microfluidic member, the appropriate membrane material is selected according to the characteristics of the fluid material to be circulated in the microchannel and the chemical reaction requirement. In the composite multilayer coating process, the film thickness of each film in the composite multilayer coating can be adjusted, and the pore size, the pitch, the distribution and the density of the microchannel can be easily adjusted, and different pore diameters can be formed on the same substrate. Flow path, etc. On the other hand, it is also possible to change the flow pattern of the micro flow channel by mechanically processing the micrometer-scale groove flow path layout, and it is an invention with industrial value.

1‧‧‧Substrate

10‧‧‧Machining surface

12‧‧‧ trench

2‧‧‧Composite multi-layer coating

20‧‧‧film layer with easy etching characteristics

21‧‧‧Developing layers

22‧‧‧Microchannel

3‧‧‧ Cover

1 is a flow block diagram of a method for manufacturing a microchannel structure of the present invention.

2 is a schematic view showing a first preferred embodiment of a method of manufacturing a microchannel structure of the present invention.

Figure 3 is a schematic view showing a second preferred embodiment of the method of fabricating the microchannel structure of the present invention.

4 is a third preferred embodiment of the method for fabricating the microchannel structure of the present invention. Illustration of the example.

Claims (8)

A method for manufacturing a microchannel structure, comprising: providing a substrate having a processed surface; forming a micrometer-scale groove on the processed surface on the substrate; and plating on the processed surface having the groove on the substrate A composite multi-layer coating formed by alternately stacking two different etching-diffusing characteristics, the composite multi-layer coating is filled into the trench; the composite multilayer coating is a portion adjacent to the opening of the trench, and a plurality of layers are exposed at the opening of the trench of the substrate Coating stripe, the multi-layer stripe strip extends along the groove path; selectively etching the film layer having easy etching characteristics in the composite multi-layer coating film at the opening of the trench to a predetermined depth to form a micron channel structure on a micronano scale And attaching a cover plate to the surface of the substrate to form a member having a micro flow path. The method for manufacturing a microchannel structure according to claim 1, wherein the step of plating a substrate having grooves on the substrate is performed by laminating a composite multilayer coating step comprising a film layer comprising two different etching difficulty characteristics. It is an alternate stacking method of plating a layer of a hard-to-etch characteristic layer and then plating a layer having an easy-etching property. The method of manufacturing a microchannel structure according to claim 2, wherein the film layer of the hard-to-etch property is a titanium metal layer, and the film layer of the easy-etching property is an aluminum metal layer. The method for manufacturing a microchannel structure according to claim 1, wherein the plating on the processed surface having the groove of the substrate comprises two different etching difficulties. In the composite multi-layer coating step in which the layers of the easy-to-feature layers are alternately stacked, the layers of the film which are easy to etch are first plated and then the layers of the layers which are difficult to etch are alternately stacked. The method of manufacturing a microchannel structure according to claim 4, wherein the film layer of the hard-to-etch property is a titanium metal layer, and the film layer of the easy-etching property is an aluminum metal layer. The method for manufacturing a microchannel structure according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein in the step of forming a micron-sized trench on the upper surface of the substrate, at least one sidewall of the trench is open from the upper end of the trench The wall intersects the machined surface perpendicularly. The method of manufacturing a microchannel structure according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein in the step of forming a micron-scale groove on the upper surface of the substrate, the micrometer scale is formed by laser or mechanical cutting means The groove. The method of manufacturing a microchannel structure according to claim 6, wherein in the step of forming a micrometer-scale groove on the upper surface of the substrate, the micrometer-scale groove is formed by laser or mechanical cutting.