Process development for high precision metal patterning on low glass transition polymer substrates

One of challenging technical issue for manufacturing polymeric microfluidic devices is fabrication of high precision electrode/sensor on plastic substrates. Low glass transition (Tg) polymers, such as polycarbonate (PC) and poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA), are incompatible with the conventional photolithography process, as the pre-baking at high temperature leads to bulge and warp of the polymer plats. We have developed a novel photolithography process with infrared (IR) radiation pre-baking for high precision metal patterning on low Tg polymer substrates.