PDMS bonding using a plasma system
Using the GLOW plasma system for plasma activation and PDMS bonding
Plasma treatment is a surface modification technique widely used to alter the surface properties of materials. The process involves exposing a material to a low-pressure plasma, typically generated from a gas mixture, which can lead to various surface changes such as cleaning, activation, or modification for bonding. The below notes are from Customers–PDMS bonding using a plasma system
Using the GLOW plasma system for plasma activation and PDMS bonding
Plasma treatment is a surface modification technique widely used to alter the surface properties of materials. The process involves exposing a material to a low-pressure plasma, typically generated from a gas mixture, which can lead to various surface changes such as cleaning, activation, or modification for bonding.
GLOW Customer Reports:
Platinum surface modification: “We are using a 3 minute treatment at 0.6 Torr in the GLOW system. Using Ar on our platinum coated substrates. This seems to be doing a nice job of stripping off any oxides on the surface. We are then getting nice wetting of the solder on the treated surface. We sometimes also electroplate Gold onto this surface, and that also works nicely on the treated parts.”
PDMS application: Customer reports using the AutoGlow for a Microfluidic application. “We expose the clean 1 inch × 3 inch glass slide, and the PDMS acrylic stack to 30 W of oxygen plasma for 30 seconds.” Click here to see the paper: http://haolab.ucsd.edu/O’Laughlin_Bio-protoc_2023_2.pdf
PDMS application: “We primarily use our GLOW plasma system to activate the surfaces of PDMS and glass in order to covalently bond those materials to form microfluidic chips. Using the GLOW plasma system — .8 Torr, oxygen gas and a 30 second process.
For more information on the GLOW plasma system: click https://www.glowresearch.org/plasma-applications/plasma-cleaning-for-pdms-bonding/
Surface Activation: The plasma treatment leads to the creation of reactive groups on the surface of the material. This activation enhances the surface energy and makes it more amenable to wetting and improves subsequent bonding of various materials.
Hydrophilicity Enhancement: The use of hydrophilic plasma treatment facilitates the incorporation of hydrophilic functional groups on the material’s surface. This results in increased wettability and improved adhesion. The modified surface can be characterized using techniques such as contact angle measurements to quantify the changes in surface wettability.
For more information contact Glow Research International: https://www.glowresearch.org/contact-us/
GLOW Customer Reports:
Platinum surface modification: “We are using a 3 minute treatment at 0.6 Torr in the GLOW system. Using Ar on our platinum coated substrates. This seems to be doing a nice job of stripping off any oxides on the surface. We are then getting nice wetting of the solder on the treated surface. We sometimes also electroplate Gold onto this surface, and that also works nicely on the treated parts.”
PDMS application: Customer reports using the AutoGlow for a Microfluidic application. “We expose the clean 1 inch × 3 inch glass slide, and the PDMS acrylic stack to 30 W of oxygen plasma for 30 seconds.” Click here to see the paper: http://haolab.ucsd.edu/O’Laughlin_Bio-protoc_2023_2.pdf
PDMS application: “We primarily use our GLOW plasma system to activate the surfaces of PDMS and glass in order to covalently bond those materials to form microfluidic chips. Using the GLOW plasma system — .8 Torr, oxygen gas and a 30 second process.
For more information on the GLOW plasma system: click https://www.glowresearch.org/plasma-applications/plasma-cleaning-for-pdms-bonding/
Surface Activation: The plasma treatment leads to the creation of reactive groups on the surface of the material. This activation enhances the surface energy and makes it more amenable to wetting and improves subsequent bonding of various materials.
Hydrophilicity Enhancement: The use of hydrophilic plasma treatment facilitates the incorporation of hydrophilic functional groups on the material’s surface. This results in increased wettability and improved adhesion. The modified surface can be characterized using techniques such as contact angle measurements to quantify the changes in surface wettability.
GLOW Plasma Systems – in stock for evaluation
GLOW Plasma System
For more information and a video on the GLOW system:
https://www.glowresearch.org/optiglow-plasma-system/glow-system/
For more information contact Glow Research International: https://www.glowresearch.org/contact-us/
