Fabrication process for an electrochemical microfluidic chip containing a microvalve system

A microvalve system is a useful tool to operate microfluidic devices. Push-up pneumatic microvalves are common when manufacturing microfluidic devices containing microvalves. In this study, the development of a push-down pneumatic microvalve was attempted, because push-down operation is useful in electrochemical microfluidic devices. In order to optimize the factors involved in fabricating the pushdown microvalve system, the layer configuration and structure of the fluidic channel were determined. The thickness of the fluidic layer was also optimized. The composition of stamp bonding material, which is a mixture of polydimethylsiloxane and hexane, was determined to achieve complete attachment. A microfluidic device containing a microvalve system was successfully fabricated via the optimized fabrication procedure, and good valve operating performance was confirmed through chip operation.