High throughput continuous fabrication of large surface area microstructured PDMS

Rapid creation of devices with microscale features is a vital step in the commercialization of a wide variety of technologies, such as microfluidics, fuel cells and self-healing materials. The current standard for creating many of these microstructured devices utilizes the inexpensive, flexible material poly-dimethylsiloxane (PDMS) to replicate microstructured molds. This process is inexpensive and fast for small batches of devices, but lacks scalability and the ability to produce large surface-area materials. The novel fabrication process presented in this paper uses a cylindrical mold with microscale surface patterns to cure liquid PDMS prepolymer into continuous microstructured films. Results show that this process can create continuous sheets of micropatterned devices at a rate of 3.94 in²/sec (100 mm²/sec), almost an order of magnitude faster than soft lithography, while still retaining submicron patterning accuracy.