THEORETICAL ANALYSES FOR LASER MACHINING MICROCHANNELS AND DEMONSTRATION OF THEIR USES IN MANUFACTURE OF A MICROFLUIDIC OPTICAL SWITCH

Silicon has been widely used to fabricate microfluidic devices due to the dominance of silicon microfabrication technologies available. In this paper, theoretical analyses are carried out to suggest suitable laser machining parameters to achieve required channel geometries. Based on the analyses, a low-power CO2 laser was employed to create microchannels in Acrylic substrate for the use of manufacturing an optical bubble switch. The developed equations are found useful for selecting appropriate machining parameters. The ability to use a low-cost CO2 laser to fabricate microchannels provides an alternative and cost-effective method for prototyping fluid flow channels, chambers and cavities in microfluidic lab chips.