Fabrication of steel displacement amplifiers integrated to microfluidic channels

A flexure mechanism consisting of steel thin film displacement amplifier and trapping fingers inside a microfluidic channel actuated by hand or a simple mechanical tool is realized for biology and cell analysis. Unlike pneumatic, electromagnetic, electrostatic, ultrasonic or other actuation methods in microfluidic devices, this mechanism does not require any power supply or large actuators for operation. This steel mechanism is fabricated via electrochemical and wet etching of 50-μm-thick stainless steel film. It is integrated to a microfluidic channel formed between 125-μm-thick polyethylene naphthalate (PEN) films for the first time in this work.