Novel hybrid material for microfluidic devices

We present a fabrication process for ORMOCER microfluidic devices. Organically modified ceramics (ORMOCER®s) are a new interesting group of materials, which provide fast and easy processing and favorable surface properties. In patterning ORMOCER behaves as negative photoresist and both UV-lithography and UV-embossing are used to fabricate structures. Oxygen plasma-treated PDMS cover is irreversible bonded to ORMOCER channel wafer for capillary electrophoresis (CE) chip fabrication. Electro-osmotic mobility is measured using ORMOCER/PDMS microchannels with different buffer conditions and found somewhat similar to glass. Contact angle measurements also indicate glass-like behavior in surface properties. Peptide separations are demonstrated using ORMOCER/PDMS CE chip. ORMOCER/ORMOCER bonding for single material fluidic devices with integrated fabrication of fluidic inlets promises more applications for this novel material.