Sealless 3-D microfluidic channel fabrication by sacrificial caramel template direct-patterning

We succeeded in developing a new simple and unique method to fabricate enclosed microfluidic channels within Polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) substrates. The procedure is extremely straight forward, where sacrificial caramel embedded inside solid PDMS simply dissolves to form arbitrary shaped enclosed channels. Arbitrary microchannel network including 3-D interchanges, cross-junctions and very thin (≤1μm) cylindrical channels can be produced with no costly equipment and no cytotoxic material.