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In this chapter an overview of manufacturing methods, leading to the fabrication of microstructures in glass substrates, is presented. Glass is a material of excellent optical properties, a very good electric insulator, biocompatible and chemically stable. In addition to its intrinsic qualities, glass can be processed with the use of manufacturing methods originating from the microelectronic industry. In this text two complete manufacturing protocols are described, each composed of standard microfabrication steps; namely, the deposition of masking layers, photolithographic patterning and pattern transfer via wet or dry etching. As a result, a set of building blocks is provided, allowing the manufacture of various microfluidic components that are frequently used in the domain of micro-total analysis system technology.

The capping of microfluidic features fabricated in glass substrates is achievable by various technological methods. Of the entire spectrum of possibilities (gluing, glass bonding via intermediate layers, pressure or plasma-assisted glass bonding, etc.) a detailed description of three techniques is presented here. The first is a low temperature PDMS-glass adhesion bonding, the second is medium temperature pressure assisted glass-glass bonding, and finally, high temperature glass-glass fusion bonding. All these protocols allow completion of the manufacturing process for a fully enclosed microfluidic chip. Nevertheless, as they are complementary rather than competing methods, they effectively extend the range of tools available to fabricate lab-on-a-chip microdevices. Each has its own merits and each could feasibly be used at different developmental stages of a given microfluidic device.