Scientific Journal of Frontier Chemical Development

September 2013, Volume 3, Issue 3, PP.54-62

Key Technique of Glass Microfluidic Chips

Etching Production Process on Slide
Qichang Li #
1. Military Delegate Ofiiice, 261031, China
#Email: liqichang100@qq.com

Abstract
Concerning the higher cost and complex process, etc. in the production of microfluidic chips, the ordinary slide, a kind of sodalime glass as substrate carrier and positive photoresist AZ 4620 as sacrificial layer, be the alternative, characterized by economic
effectiveness, simplicity and short manufacture cycle. In this paper, the following aspects have been systematically investigated in
details, including the pretreatment of glass slide, photoresist coating, various stages of baking parameters, exposure and developer
volume, etching environment and the glass buffered oxide etchs ratio, systematically, and then the solution to the adhesion
problem of the photoresist with the glass, photoresists tolerance time in buffered oxide etch. After the optimization,, the etching
depth can reach 80 m, the minimum feature size could be less than 50 m, the sidewall steepness is less than 100, the flatness
error is less than 1.5 m, and the production cycle takes just 4 h.
Keywords: Microfabrication Process; Microfluidic Chips; AZ 4620; UV Thick Photoresist Lithography; Wet Etching

261031

Pyrex 7740

(soda-lime glass) AZ 4620

80m 50m 100

1.5m 4h

[1-2]
[3]
[4] Pyrex 7740
[5]
[6]
AZ 4620

(Buffered Oxide Etch, BOE) BOE

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76.2 mm25.4 mm1-1.2 mm

(soda-lime glass) SiO2 Na2OCaOMgO
Fe2O3Al2O3 Na2OCaO6SiO2
[7]
AZ 4620 (AZ photoresist productsSommervilleNew JerseyUSA)[8]
1:3 AZ 400K
BOE BOE M(HF)M(NH4F)M(H2O)369

2.1

SiO2 HF [9]

SiO 2 4HF SiF4 2H 2 O

(1)

SiF4 HF

SiF4 2HF H 2 (SiF6 )

(2)

SiO 2 6HF H2 (SiF6 ) 2H2O

(3)

76.225.41-1.2 mm 7101Soda-lime Glass

4 1 1 2
3 4

1:

3:

2:

4:

1 H2SO4:H2O2=3:1
15 min 120 10 min
5 min 150 AZ 4620
2
80 m
20 m
3
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HF SiO2 HF SiO2
(Buffered Oxide Etch, BOE)

2.2
H2SO4H2O2=31 15min 120
10min 5min
150 3

KW-4A desktop spin coating machine

1
2
3
4
2

V
V
W

V
V

60s 1000~5000rad/min
34

13.5

2.0

/h

/m

18

4.5
1

3
4
/10r/min

1.5
1.0

0.5
1

3
4
/10r/min

3000rad/min
2000rad/min
2000rad/min
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 9~10m KLATencor AlphaStep P-6 5

80
60
40
20
0
-20
-40
-60
-80
25

50

75 100 125 150

/m

175

200 225

5 2000 rad/min

40
5 m[12] 80
40~60min

2.3

80m
20m
15.7mW/cm2 URE-2000B
Height /m

Height /m
(a)

(b)

12

10
-1

8
6
4

-2

2
0

-3

-2
-4

-4
0

200

400
600
Scan Length /m

800

200

400

600 800 1000

Scan Length /m

1200

Height /m
(d)

(c)

4
2
0

-2
-4
-6

-8
-10
-12
0

100m
200

400

600 800 1000 1200

Scan Length /m

6 (a)(b)(c)(d)

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 30s
70~80 9~10m AZ P4620

PAC [10] 9 ~ 10 m
AZ 4620 15.7 mW/cm2 URE-2000B
6
AZ400K1:3 1
225~250s 2~2.5min

1
/s
100
150
200
225
250
275
300

/s
600
480
300
180
150
120
120

/min
85
85
90
95
95
90
85

2.4
2.4.1

[11-14]
7

(a) 110 60 min(b) 90 60 min(c)

80 60 min

9 ~ 10 m 70
min 90 min

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2.4.2

BOE

(1) BOE
BOE (H)(F-)

BOE
2000 rad/min 9 ~ 10 m 80 40 min 90 60 min
BOE 3-16 BOE

8
1:10 ~ 1:15 BOE

/min

/m/min

BOE
8 BOE

(2) HCl
BOE

BOE HCl CaF2 MgF2 1:15 BOE

HCl 9

/m

/m/min

HCl/%

9 HCl

HCl BOE1:15 0.65 m/min HCl

0.83 m/min HCl
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 HCl BOE HCl 10 % ~ 20 %

2.4.3

(1)
10

/min

/m

10

20 ~ 30
(2)
[15]

DF-101S
30 11

BOE

11

800 ~ 1300 rad/min

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 800 rad/min

2
2

150 5 min
AZ 46202000 rad/min1 min
80 40 ~ 60 min
15.7 mW/cm2225 ~ 250 s
80 30 s
AZ 400K1:32.5 ~ 3 min
80 ~ 90 70 ~ 90 min
BOE1:10 1:1520 ~ 30 800 rad/min90 min

BOE1:15 90~
110min 75~80m 1001.5 m 4 h

80m 50m

1001.5m 4h
BOE

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1988-
2010 2012 Email:
liqichang100@qq.com.

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