Glass microstructure capping and bonding techniques.

The capping of microfluidic features fabricated in glass substrates is achievable by various technological methods. Of the entire spectrum of possibilities (gluing, glass bonding via intermediate layers, pressure or plasma-assisted glass bonding, etc.) a detailed description of three techniques is presented here. The first is a low temperature PDMS-glass adhesion bonding, the second is medium temperature pressure assisted glass-glass bonding, and finally, high temperature glass-glass fusion bonding. All these protocols allow completion of the manufacturing process for a fully enclosed microfluidic chip. Nevertheless, as they are complementary rather than competing methods, they effectively extend the range of tools available to fabricate lab-on-a-chip microdevices. Each has its own merits and each could feasibly be used at different developmental stages of a given microfluidic device.