Micro-optofluidic (moF) devices realized by 3D printing technology

The micro-optofluidic (moF) technology reproduces into a single chip many functionalities of a macro-scale bio-chemical laboratory. However, the high potential of microfluidics will be fully exploited only when all the measurements, detection and control capabilities now available at the macro-scale will be replicated easily and low costly at the micro-scale. For the realization of PDMS moF devices the 3D printing technology is proposed as a low-cost alternative to the soft lithography. Up to now, the PDMS is not used as a 3D printer resin, thus a protocol based on a master-slave procedure coupling the PDMS and a second polymer has been developed . Despite 3D printed structures cannot currently compete with the resolution of structures defined using the most common soft lithography, they do enable an enhanced control of device geometries. 3D printed micro-optical technology will give to researches the ability to quickly and inexpensively create micro-optical devices with unprecedented shape and complexity .