Development of the automatic positioning system of microtool edge in micromachining of glass plate for microfluidic chips

A microfluidic chip is a microscale chemical laboratory, and a glass substrate is used for the material of the chip. Micromachining is an effective process to produce a 3D micropattern on such a glass plate. In the micromachining process, however, the positioning of the contact point of the tool edge on the surface of the glass workpiece is technically difficult. In this study, a new automated positioning system for the microtool edge is developed using the total internal reflection of a laser beam. The developed system is also applied to detect the change in the cutting mode from ductile to brittle.