Eco-friendly 3D micromachining of polymers by 172 nm photoablation for optical and microfluidics applications

We report a novel, environmentally-friendly, scalable subtractive process which allows for complex 3D optical, microfluidic and biomedical components and microstructures to be fabricated precisely in a wide variety of polymers. The reported technique is capable of producing submicron structures with 20 µm depth in biodegradable polymers. The process is based on a VUV (λ=172 nm) photoablative lithographic technique utilizing flat microplasma lamps and does not require a clean room environment or any chemical processing. The fabricated 3D surface may also be used as a mold for PDMS curing.