A Microfabrication Process for Polymer Microchannel With Embedded Vertical Electrodes for Microfluidic Applications

In this paper, we will report the use of SU-8 to make an all polymer microchannel with vertical platinum electrodes, which is fabricated by a multilayer SU-8 coating and electroplating process. The first layer is spun to increase the adhesion of the channel and the substrate, the second layer is the microchannel structure. The third layer is spun on another substrate and then capped onto the second channel layer to make a completely sealed SU-8 Channel. The PDMS substrate we used to spin the third layer on is flexible to enable conformably sealing to the microchannel substrate. A process that makes vertical microelectrodes inside the channels is also developed, which makes it a powerful process to make a complicate microfluidic network.