Micronit applies HF etching (chemical etching) techniques to make channel structures in glass. HF is a hydrofluidic acid, commonly used for cleaning metal and etching glass. For the HF etching technique we use masks which make the absolute positioning of the structures accurate within one micrometer. By using a mask, the amount of channels, reservoirs, mixing and reaction chambers is irrelevant for the costs of the process.

Isotropic technique
Wet etching of glass is an isotropic etching technique. This means that the width of the channels is more than twice the depth of it, and that the corners are rounded. The bottom of the channel stays smooth and optically transparent.

HF etching is an economical solution for fast, flexible, high quality prototyping and volume production (up to 50,000 wafers a year).

Possibilities
A lot of combinations with (other) etching techniques are possible, like double-sided HF etching or one-side powderblasting, one-side HF etching. Besides, it is possible to integrate electrodes in the chips, or to use silicon layers.

Micronit developed wet-etching techniques to create structures for trapping particles and/or cells. For these structures no additional processes, nor other etching techniques are needed. The structures can simply be incorporated in the custom made glass chips. An example of particle traps can be found here.

For more examples of customized chips and techniques please contact Micronit.