Surface micromachined glass and polysilicon microchannels using MUMPs

MUMPs (Multi-User MEMS Process) based, surface micromachined glass and polysilicon microchannels are fabricated by means of surface micromachining. The prototype glass microchannels are made of a 0.75 /spl mu/m-thick PSG2 layer on top with cross section of 70 /spl mu/m in width and 4 /spl mu/m in height. The polysilicon microchannel are made of a 2 /spl mu/m-thick poly I layer with a cross section of 7 /spl mu/m in width and 2 /spl mu/m in height. Both microchannels have been tested to transport and contain water by means of surface tension force. Because these microchannels are fabricated strictly from the foundry-based micromachining process, they present opportunities for economical prototyping process and provide great potential to be integrated with other micromachined microfluidic systems using foundry-based services for device applications, such as DNA chip and lab-on-a-chip.