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<p>Poly(dimethylsiloxane) (PDMS) is the most widely used material for microfluidic chips because of its advantageous properties including easy fabrication through soft lithography, which means pattern transfer technique from microfabricated master molds. However, most of the master molds are made of a silicon wafer and a photoresist layer, and have two major disadvantages: (1) the fabrication process is complicated and requires specialized facilities, and (2) the fabricated master molds are fragile. Here, we describe a simple fabrication technique to produce a robust master mold by pattern transfer from an existing PDMS chip to an inexpensive, hobby-use UV-curable resin (UV resin). The process requires no specialized facilities or hazardous chemicals. The test pattern consisted of microchannels with a cross-section of 100&#xa0;µm × 25 µm and a total area of 30 mm × 30&#xa0;mm. This pattern was faithfully transferred from the PDMS surface to the UV resin. The inaccuracy of the solidified UV resin was evaluated to be smaller than the measurement error (&lt; 0.2%). The UV resin mold was subsequently tested for the soft lithography of a next-generation PDMS chip. For successful soft lithography, the UV resin mold required heat treatment at 60 °C for at least 48 h prior to use. Without this treatment, substantial damage was observed on both the PDMS and the UV resin surfaces. This problem was probably caused by the inhibition of PDMS curing due to unreacted components of the UV resin remaining on the surface. The technique presented here provides a simple and low-cost route for the repetitive fabrication of identical PDMS microfluidic chips for various research fields.</p> Graphical abstract <p></p>

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Copying a soft lithography master mold using an inexpensive, hobby-use UV-curable resin

  • 期刊论文

  • 出版模式：

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  • 发表日期：

    2026年4月30日

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  • Kazuo Hosokawa,
  • Hiroshi Kasuga,
  • Hitoshi Ohmori

摘要

Poly(dimethylsiloxane) (PDMS) is the most widely used material for microfluidic chips because of its advantageous properties including easy fabrication through soft lithography, which means pattern transfer technique from microfabricated master molds. However, most of the master molds are made of a silicon wafer and a photoresist layer, and have two major disadvantages: (1) the fabrication process is complicated and requires specialized facilities, and (2) the fabricated master molds are fragile. Here, we describe a simple fabrication technique to produce a robust master mold by pattern transfer from an existing PDMS chip to an inexpensive, hobby-use UV-curable resin (UV resin). The process requires no specialized facilities or hazardous chemicals. The test pattern consisted of microchannels with a cross-section of 100 µm × 25 µm and a total area of 30 mm × 30 mm. This pattern was faithfully transferred from the PDMS surface to the UV resin. The inaccuracy of the solidified UV resin was evaluated to be smaller than the measurement error (< 0.2%). The UV resin mold was subsequently tested for the soft lithography of a next-generation PDMS chip. For successful soft lithography, the UV resin mold required heat treatment at 60 °C for at least 48 h prior to use. Without this treatment, substantial damage was observed on both the PDMS and the UV resin surfaces. This problem was probably caused by the inhibition of PDMS curing due to unreacted components of the UV resin remaining on the surface. The technique presented here provides a simple and low-cost route for the repetitive fabrication of identical PDMS microfluidic chips for various research fields.

Graphical abstract