MIT Research Center Designs Production Processes to Mass Produce Microfluidic Devices

Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)’s multidisciplinary research group, the Center for Polymer Microfabrication is designing production processes for microfluidics from the scratch in order to mass produce microfluidic devices.

The Center for Polymer Microfabrication is designing processes for manufacturing microfluidic chips. Pictured here is a chip fabricated by the center's tailor-made production machines. (Credit: Photo: Melinda Hale)

David Hardt is the head of the research center funded by the Singapore-MIT Alliance. The center is studying the characteristics of polymers under plant conditions, developing advanced machines and tools to fabricate chips based on polymers at production levels, devising quality-control processes to monitor the integrity of a chip at submicron scales, and decreasing the production costs.

The research group concentrates on microembossing, an imprinting technique wherein a pattern of small channels is stamped subsequent to heating a polymer. During the tests, the team identified issues in the existing embossing technique. To stop embossing failures during a production setting, the team investigated the interactions and measured the mechanical forces between the embossing tool and the cooling polymer. Using these measurements, the team developed embossing tools specially designed to reduce polymer stickiness. These tools were able to fabricate chips precisely and rapidly at a lower cost, Hardt said.

Besides fabricating microfluidic devices, the research group is developing advanced quality-control techniques. Since microfluidic chips have small features, the process of checking the quality of every feature is time-consuming and can only be viewed under a high-resolution microscope. The research team developed a rapid and reliable method to assess the health of the production process of microfluidic chips by adding a small ‘X’ feature to the pattern of the chip, instead of checking whether all channels of a chip are imprinted. This ‘X’ feature is the most difficult of all to be embossed on a chip. Accurate embossing of the ‘X’ feature determines the quality measure of a chip’s production process.

The Center for Polymer Microfabrication is now seeking ways to engineer a ‘self-correcting factory’ that can test products automatically. Hardt envisages that the production process automatically adjusts the machine settings to rectify the process when the product malfunctions. The research group has designed algorithms to fine-tune the machines to rectify the production differences.

Citations

Please use one of the following formats to cite this article in your essay, paper or report:

  • APA

    Massachusetts Institute of Technology. (2019, February 12). MIT Research Center Designs Production Processes to Mass Produce Microfluidic Devices. AZoNano. Retrieved on November 12, 2024 from https://www.azonano.com/news.aspx?newsID=24592.

  • MLA

    Massachusetts Institute of Technology. "MIT Research Center Designs Production Processes to Mass Produce Microfluidic Devices". AZoNano. 12 November 2024. <https://www.azonano.com/news.aspx?newsID=24592>.

  • Chicago

    Massachusetts Institute of Technology. "MIT Research Center Designs Production Processes to Mass Produce Microfluidic Devices". AZoNano. https://www.azonano.com/news.aspx?newsID=24592. (accessed November 12, 2024).

  • Harvard

    Massachusetts Institute of Technology. 2019. MIT Research Center Designs Production Processes to Mass Produce Microfluidic Devices. AZoNano, viewed 12 November 2024, https://www.azonano.com/news.aspx?newsID=24592.

Tell Us What You Think

Do you have a review, update or anything you would like to add to this news story?

Leave your feedback
Your comment type
Submit

While we only use edited and approved content for Azthena answers, it may on occasions provide incorrect responses. Please confirm any data provided with the related suppliers or authors. We do not provide medical advice, if you search for medical information you must always consult a medical professional before acting on any information provided.

Your questions, but not your email details will be shared with OpenAI and retained for 30 days in accordance with their privacy principles.

Please do not ask questions that use sensitive or confidential information.

Read the full Terms & Conditions.