Issue 23, 2011

Parylene C coating for high-performance replica molding

Abstract

This paper presents an improvement to the soft lithography fabrication process that uses chemical vapor deposition of poly(chloro-p-xylylene) (parylene C) to protect microfabricated masters and to improve the release of polymer devices following replica molding. Chemical vapor deposition creates nanometre thick conformal coatings of parylene C on silicon wafers having arrays of 30 μm high SU8 pillars with densities ranging from 278 to 10,040 features per mm2 and aspect ratios (height : width) from 1 : 1 to 6 : 1. A single coating of parylene C was sufficient to permanently promote poly(dimethyl)siloxane (PDMS) mold release and to protect masters for an indefinite number of molding cycles. We also show that the improved release properties of parylene treated masters allow for fabrication with hard polymers, such as poly(urethane), that would otherwise not be compatible with SU8 on silicon masters. Parylene C provides a robust and high performance mold release coating for soft lithography microfabrication that extends the life of microfabricated masters and improves the achievable density and aspect ratio of replicated features.

Graphical abstract: Parylene C coating for high-performance replica molding

Article information

Article type
Technical Note
Submitted
11 Jul 2011
Accepted
14 Sep 2011
First published
13 Oct 2011

Lab Chip, 2011,11, 4122-4125

Parylene C coating for high-performance replica molding

K. A. Heyries and C. L. Hansen, Lab Chip, 2011, 11, 4122 DOI: 10.1039/C1LC20623K

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