Fabrication of micro-heaters embedded in PDMS using a dry peel-off process

This paper describes a reliable fabrication method of micro-heaters embedded in polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS). Gold patterns are transferred and embedded to the PDMS from a silicon substrate, by peeling off. The surface adhesion among silicon substrate, Au patterns, and PDMS is modified with self-assembled monolayers. Therefore, micro-heaters embedded in PDMS can be fabricated by a simpler and easier way compared to conventional methods. The thermal characterization of micro-heaters and PDMS device is carried out by electrical and infrared thermo-microscopic measurements. The experimental results well agree with the numerical analysis performed by finite element method.