Polymer microfluidic bioreactor fabrication by means of gray scale lithography technique

In this paper we present a new method of polymer microfluidic bioreactor fabrication by means of a gray scale lithography technique. As a result of the gray scale lithography process the 3D model of the bioreactor is defined in photoresist. The obtained model serves as a sacrificial layer for the subsequent transfer of the 3D shape into the polymer material. The proposed method allows simultaneous definition of both the overall bioreactor geometry and the multi steps cell traps in a single photolithography step. Such microfluidic structure can be used for sorting cells based on their size. The developed solution significantly simplifies the production technology and reduces its costs in comparison to standard photolithography techniques.