Biochip for Single Cell Analysis Using Laser Microfabrication¹

We demonstrate laser microfabrication of transparent fluoric polymer using a conventional green laser. Fluoric polymers have unique characteristics such as high transparency, chemical resistance, and low refractive index and are expected to overcome many problems which conventional polymers have for biochip applications. We developed crack-free surface microfabrication of commercially available fluoric polymer commercially available fluoric polymer CYTOP (Asahi Glass Co., Ltd., Tokyo) using a conventional green laser. The laser ablation with successive wet etching by fluorine solution and annealing achieves high-quality microfluidics on the surface of the polymer substrate. In addition, we demonstrate the fabrication of a biochip with a three-dimensional fluid structure by bonding two pieces of CYTOP substrates for clear microscopic observation of swimming aquatic microorganism at the sidewall of the fluidics.