Microfluidics: Complex structures in hard-brittle materials
ShapeFab manufactures microfluidic components from glass using 5-axis CNC machining: 3D microchannels, reservoirs, ports and lab-on-a-chip structures β from feature widths of 300 Β΅m, in quartz glass, borosilicate glass and other technical glasses. From prototypes to series production, ISO 9001 certified, manufactured in Jena.
Microfluidics deals with the control of small fluid volumes and is classified as a key technology in analytics. Possible applications of microfluidic components can be found, for example, within biotechnology, drug discovery or (point-of-care) diagnostics.
Exemplary applications:
- Lab-on-a-chip
- Organ-on-a-chip
- Microanalysis systemsΒ
- Microreactors
In particularly demanding microfluidic applications, the advantages of hard-brittle materials such as glass outweigh their disadvantages:
Glass | Polymer | Ceramic | |
|---|---|---|---|
Optical properties | +++ | + | -- |
Chemical resistance | ++ | o | +++ |
Surface characteristics | ++ | o | -- |
Thermal stability | ++ | + | +++ |
Hydrophilicity | +++ | - | / |
Shelf life | + | - | +++ |
Reproducibility | ++ | o | / |
Coating capability | + | o | -- |
NRE costs | + | -- | -- |
Price per piece (series) | - | +++ | -- |
Source: MF Consortium of CfBI "Desing for Microfluidic Device Manufacture Guidelines", V5.
Exemplary Materials:
- Fused silica
- Borosilicate glass
- Calcium fluoride
- Zerodur
- Zirconia
- Silicon carbide
Manufacturable geometries:
- Micro holes
- Wells
- Reservoirs
- Complex 3D channels
- Branches
- Threads
- Inlet/outlet ports
- and others...
Due to our high-precision 5-axis CNC machining process, three-dimensional microfluidic structures made of glass can be produced economically even for small batch sizes and complex geometries. An application-specific selection of different hard-brittle materials (e.g. calcium fluoride for applications in Raman spectroscopy) can be made.
Our technology offers the following advantages in comparison to available manufacturing alternatives:
Etching processes | Laser processes | Selective laser etching (SLE) | ShapeFab (combined CNC machining) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fast prototyping / small and medium batch sizes | π | β | β | β |
| High volumes | β | π | π | π |
| No use of environmentally harmful chemicals | π | β | β | β |
| Low heat input into the component | β | π | π | β |
| High aspect ratio | π | β | β | β |
| Selective polishing | π | π | π | β |
| Vertical channel walls | π | π | β | β |
| Transition of different channel depths | π | π | β | β |