Patent ID: 8491083
Filing Date: 2013-07-23
Classification: B29C,B29L,B33Y

Abstract:
1. An apparatus for fabricating one or more microfluidic channels in a substrate body, comprising: a print bed for receiving a substrate; a first inkjet head capable of delivering a stream of droplets of a first material directed at a surface of the substrate, wherein the first material is a hydrophobic material; a second inkjet head capable of delivering a stream of droplets of a second material directed at the surface of the substrate, wherein the second material is a mixture of a hydrophobic polymer and photoacid generator, and wherein the hydrophobic polymer contains a hydrolyzable group and hydrolyzes to form a hydrophilic material; an x-y plane drive mechanism capable of producing relative movement between the first and second inkjet heads and the substrate in an x-y plane of the substrate, wherein the x-y plane drive mechanism, for each of a plurality of layers in a layer-by-layer fabrication of the one or more microfluidic channels on the substrate, moves the first inkjet head relative to the substrate so as to deposit droplets of the hydrophobic first material on the surface of the substrate in a first pattern lying outside a two-dimensional layout of the one or more microfluidic channels and moves the second inkjet head relative to the substrate so as to deposit droplets of the mixture on the surface of the substrate in a second pattern lying inside the two-dimensional layout of the one or more microfluidic channels.