Micro Machining of Metal Injection Mould with Micro Channel Features of Tens Micro Meters for Polymer Microfluidic Devices Manufacturing

There are increasing demands for polymer based microfluidic devices as polymer devices can be mass produced using the injection molding process for disposable analytical applications. However, fabrication of precision injection molds with micro features down to tens of micro meters is a challenging task. The most efficient manufacturing method for this type of high precision micro mold is the tool-based micro machining. In this paper, studies have been conducted to develop metal injection mould manufacturing technologies for polymer microfluidic device fabrication. An injection mould with a micro feature of 29m wall thickness, 20m height and 9.8mm length has been successfully achieved on brass with very precise dimensional accuracy and surface quality for molding process of polymer microfluidic devices. Polymer microfluidic chips with micro channels of 30m width have been successfully produced using the machined metal injection mould.