Fabrication of enclosed nanochannels in poly(methylmethacrylate) using proton beam writing and thermal bonding

Abstract

We report a technique for fabricating enclosed nanochannels in poly(methylmethacrylate) (PMMA) using proton beam writing coupled with thermal bonding. Using proton beam writing, straight-walled high-aspect-ratio channels can be directly fabricated through a relatively thick PMMA resist layer spin coated on a Kapton film. By thermally bonding the fabricated structures onto bulk PMMA, peeling off the Kapton substrate, and bonding the remaining exposed side to PMMA, enclosed high-aspect-ratio nano/microchannels can be fabricated. Such enclosed channels can be incorporated into fluidic polymeric devices, and the process is compatible with the fabrication of multilevel three-dimensional fluidic chips with vertical interconnects. © 2006 American Institute of Physics.