The photolithography step creates a patterned master that serves as the physical template for casting. Liquid PDMS conforms to the master’s channel and chamber geometry, so the transferred pattern establishes the device layout before bonding. Separating pattern creation from elastomer replication makes it possible to produce customized microfluidic designs through a relatively rapid prototyping workflow.
Mixing the elastomer with its curing agent prepares the liquid material to become a solid, usable layer. Thermal curing stabilizes the cast PDMS so it can be removed from the master as a patterned piece. This sequence creates the formed layer required for the later bonding step, which in turn encloses pathways for fluid transport and chamber-based experiments.
Peeling produces a patterned PDMS layer, but the channels remain open until that layer contacts glass or another PDMS surface. Oxygen-plasma treatment enables bonding between these surfaces, enclosing the patterned pathways and chambers. This closure is essential for experiments involving controlled fluid transport, small sample volumes, or defined microenvironments rather than an exposed surface.
Transparency, flexibility, and biocompatibility are central material advantages. Transparency makes the device suitable for work in which the microfluidic environment must be accessible visually, while flexibility and elastomeric behavior support practical handling. Biocompatibility aligns the material with bioengineering experiments. Combined with relatively low cost and rapid fabrication, these properties favor prototyping of channels and chambers.
The workflow requires a photolithographically patterned master, liquid PDMS, a curing agent, and a surface such as glass or another PDMS layer. After casting and thermal curing, the solidified patterned layer is peeled from the master. Oxygen-plasma treatment is then applied at the joining interface, allowing the layer and surface to bond and enclose the channels.
Applications span cell culture, organ-on-a-chip systems, biochemical assays, particle manipulation, and controlled fluid transport. The same fabrication approach can therefore support biological models, analytical experiments, and microscale handling tasks. Its value is especially apparent when a study needs small sample volumes together with a precisely defined microenvironment, rather than a large, conventional vessel.
Enclosed microchannels and chambers allow fluid transport to be controlled within a miniaturized space. This configuration reduces the scale of the experimental environment and supports work with small sample volumes, while the defined geometry helps establish precise microenvironments. In bioengineering, those characteristics can be useful for organizing cell culture or conducting biochemical assays in a compact device.