The area of microfluidic devices with microwave components is constantly increasing. There are four main types of materials, that can act as a substrate for the microwave-microfluidic systems—epoxy-glass laminates, polymer materials, glass/silicon substrates, and Low-Temperature Cofired Ceramics (LTCCs). The entry describes and compares briefly all selected materials.
Based on the Scopus database, the number of publications related to the field of microfluidics reached nearly 6000 records in 2020. The use of microfluidic devices with integrated microwave components is notable mainly in biochemical and chemical applications, such as detecting the biological material [1][2][3][4]. Furthermore, due to the possibility of noncontact sensing and delivering the microwaves to the systems (using the antenna-based circuits), the possibilities are still increasing [5][6][7]. Due to the simplified geometries of the structures, the use of such systems often does not require specialized staff. Thus, these systems became common solutions in many areas, such as biotechnology, biochemistry, medical applications, etc. Moreover, the choice of the microwave methods allows different systems to be fabricated, which can be based on coaxial waveguides, as in [9], which significantly expands on the possibilities of applications.In the literature, many materials that act as substrates for microfluidic microwave devices can be found. However, the four most common ones are glass-epoxy laminates (especially Rogers Corp., Chandler, AZ, USA), glass/silicon wafers, various polymer materials (mostly polydimethylsiloxane, PDMS), and ceramics (Low-Temperature Cofired Ceramics, LTCC). Each of them brings different advantages and technological challenges. The electrical parameters of selected materials are shown in Table 1.Table 1. The selected properties of the materials that act as substrates for microfluidic or/and microwave components in the microfluidic-microwave devices. Based on [10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22].
Material | Silicon | Borosilicate Glass | PMMA | PDMS | Rogers (RO4000 Series) | LTCC |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Relative permittivity (-) | 10–11 | 3.8–5.1 | 3.2 | 2.3–2.8 | 3.3–3.5 | 7.5–7.8 |
Dielectric loss tangent (-) | 0.001 @ 1MHz | 0.002–0.004 | 0.001–0.003 @ 8.92 GHz | 0.02 @ 2.5 GHz | 0.002–0.003 | 0.006 @ 3 GHz |
Resistivity (Ω·cm) | 6.4 × 104 | 4 × 1010 | 2 × 1015 | 0.6 × 1012 | n/n | >1012 |
Contact angle (DI water on non-treated surface) | ~20–40 | ~70 | ~75 | ~90–110 | n/n | ~60–70 |
From the perspective of the microwave technique, the most characterized substrates are glass-epoxy laminates. This is related to many features, such as ease of fabricating the geometries of conductive paths and the possibility of easy integration of various active and passive electronic components [23][24][25]. Moreover, these materials are characterized by small dielectric losses and stable relative permittivity over a wide frequency range. The most common substrates dedicated to microwave purposes are those made by Rogers Corporation. However, with their adequate electrical parameters, laminates are usually less resistant to harsh environmental conditions, such as increased humidity, temperature, and various chemical agents. Moreover, the presence of the mentioned conditions is typical for microfluidic systems. Due to this, the majority of microfluidic components are made with the use of other materials and they are attached to the PCB system [24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32]. Due to the possibilities offered by microfluidic-microwave systems, despite some technological challenges, numerous examples of such devices can be observed in the literature.The fabrication process of the microwave devices integrated with the microfluidic components consists of several steps. After designing the dimensions of the whole structure, the first step is typically the manufacturing of the microstrip lines (or coplanar waveguides, CPWs) and specific pattern (if necessary) of the ground plane. Most of the glass-epoxy laminates dedicated to microwave applications are covered by thin copper layers, which makes the fabrication of the conductive lines a simple process. However, the accurate integration of the microfluidic components with the circuit made on the glass-epoxy laminate is more complicated. Usually, this requires the choice of some polymer material, such as Polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) or PDMS, and then the integration in the designed part of the microwave microstrip circuit. Frequently, the use of some positioning components, made, e.g., by 3D printing as in [25] or some steel frame, is necessary, as shown in [33][34].
One of the first microfluidic device manufactured on a silicon substrate was developed in the 1980s [35]. There are many examples of devices that are based on silicon or glass substrates operating in the microwave frequency range. This technology mostly appears in LOC microsystems, which can be made on, among other things, quartz [1][36][37][38], silicon [39], or glass [40][41] substrates. Due to fact that the material, which acts as a microwave circuits’ substrate, should be characterized by high resistivity, the silicon ones are mostly the high-resistive ones [42][43][44]. The process of manufacturing microwave devices with microfluidic components usually consists of fabricating thin-layer microwave planar waveguides on a glass or silicon substrate and adding a part constituting a microfluidic channel. Typically, the technological process consists of two stages. The first stage includes the fabricating of the conductive microwave circuit, by photolithography and/or electroplating. The second one is the manufacturing of the microfluidic components in the volume of polymer—typically PDMS—using soft lithography. Then, bonding to a glass/Si substrate containing a microwave microstrip circuit using oxygen plasma is carried out [43]. However, the possibility of omitting the plasma-bonding in the fabrication process has recently been reported, which is described well in [45].The exemplary technological process of a device made on a glass substrate is presented in [46], where the microwave circuit was made on the glass substrate using a combination of electroplating and electro lithography. In this case, the thin layer of SiO2 was coated (using the magnetron sputtering) due to avoid the risk of contamination as a result of direct contact between gold microstrip lines and liquid. The fabrication of the PDMS microfluidic components was preceded by fabrication SU-8 masters on silicon wafers using soft lithography. In the last fabrication stage, the microwave glass substrate and PDMS component were treated with oxygen plasma. However, the process of manufacturing the microfluidic components is also hard to carry out, as in [47]. Due to this, the monolithic microwave-microfluidic systems are also encountered—e.g., as in works [43][48].
Polymer materials are relatively standard substrates for microfluidic systems and a sufficient description of the technological processes is included in the [49]. Such materials have many advantages, such as relative ease of three-dimensional structuration and higher resistance to humidity and chemical agents in comparison to the glass-epoxy laminates. However, polymeric materials are sensitive to temperature changes and their dielectric losses significantly depend on frequency [50]. Moreover, the integration of electronic components with a single polymer substrate is more difficult in comparison to the laminates, which significantly prolongs the fabrication process. In the case described in [51], the first step of the technological process was cutting the Cyclic Olefin Copolymer (COC) substrate into a designed shape and forming the microchannel’s geometry using a CNC milling machine. Then, the slit in the microchannel was fabricated using photolithography. In the next step, the copper self-adhesive tape was placed on the top and bottom surfaces of the COC substrate and the transmission line and ground plane were patterned.The state of art shows a leading trend, which is the application of transparent polymers in microfluidic-microwave devices, such as PDMS, Polymethylmethacrylate, polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) [52][53] or COC [51][54]. Typically, the polymer acts as the substrate containing the microfluidic structures made by soft photolithography. The microwave circuits are usually made of self-adhesive copper foil [27] or using an ink-jet printing process [28]. Due to this, in comparison to the other mentioned technologies, there are only several publications that describe the microfluidic-microwave devices based only on the polymer material. The fabrication of microwave circuits is usually the last stage of fabricating the microfluidic-microwave devices based mainly on polymers.
For years, LTCC (low-temperature cofired ceramics) have acted as the substrates for microwave circuits thanks to the development of substrate materials with various dielectric parameters, which are stable over a wide frequency range. Recently, LTCC has also been used successfully as a base for microfluidic modules due to the chemical resistance of LTCC, the possibility of fabrication of three-dimensional structures inside and outside the module, and humidity resistance. Due to the specificity of LTCC materials, both microwave systems (mainly antennas, but also other circuits) [55][56][57][58][59] and microfluidic modules [60][61][62][63] are fabricated as monolithic systems. The LTCC modules are the multilayer ones. Due to this, the fabrication process consists of several steps: forming the layers and the three-dimensional structures (such as microchannels and microchambers), screen printing, stacking and laminating and then, cofiring. Due to this, the LTCC technology allows the manufacturing of both the conductive paths and microchannels in one technological process. Moreover, a new trend of fabricating ceramic microsystems has recently appeared—additive manufacturing, which in the near future will significantly increase the variety of fabricated ceramic microsystems [64]. Hence, LTCC seems to be suited for solutions combining microfluidic components with microwave technology, a trend that can be observed in the literature [5][65][66][67].
This entry is adapted from the peer-reviewed paper 10.3390/s21051710