NOA 63 as a UV-curable material for fabrication of microfluidic channels with native hydrophilicity

In this paper, we propose a method to create a natively hydrophilic microfluidic structure in a fast and simple way using an UV-curable polymer (NOA 63 from Norland Optics). This polymer can provide a substitute to PDMS microchannels offering high reproducibility, elevated fabrication throughput and native hydrophilicity, allowing easier filling of the microchannels with aqueous solutions. We demonstrate the manufacturing of a complete microfluidic system, composed by a NOA 63 body sealed by a NOA 63 membrane, and we study the hydrophilicity and the optical characteristics of the fabricated cartridge. (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.