Paul Yager Teaching Bioengineering Department, Box 355061, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195, USA

Microfabrication and Microfluidics for Bioengineering Applications

Paul Yager

Class and Laboratory

Offered alternate years

This course is aimed at preparing graduate students to use 2- and 3-dimensional structures with features between 1 mm and 0.1 µm in their research with biomaterials complex liquids. (It may also be taken by advanced undergraduates with advance permission of the instructor.) It is best taken as part of a two-quarter sequence beginning with EE539 Introduction to Micro Electro Mechanical Systems (MEMS) taught by Böhringer, which focuses on "dry" MEMS devices. However, EE539 is not a prerequisite. This course focuses on those aspects of microfabrication that are best suited to micropatterning of surfaces, BioMEMS, and microfluidic chemical analytical systems. Initial material reviews microelectromechanical systems (MEMS), fabrication techniques, microfluidic chemical analytical systems, and "soft lithography" through lectures and discussion of current literature. The 3 credit lecture course is open. The companion 1 credit companion laboratory course project is limited to 7 students. The purpose of the laboratory course is to learn (hands on!) how to prepare devices that will be immediately useful in the student's research. In the lab students will make etched silicon microstructures (or SU-8 structures, depending on shape requirements) to prepare polymeric replicas for use in micropatterning, micromolding or microfluidics.

Meetings:
The first of the meetings each week will be a formal introductory lecture by the main or guest lecturer. The second meetings will be broken into two approximately equal parts as follows:

1. Lecture.
2. Breaking up of the students into groups of 4 or 5 to informally discuss readings assigned in the previous lecture (see syllabus). Professor to float between groups to ensure that the discussions progress.

Readings:
The "text" for this course will be the set of PowerPoint-based lecture notes by the professor. These will be placed on the course WWW site as soon as possible before that day's lecture. All notes on the WWW site more than 1 week before class are to be considered tentative. Login name and password will be provided at the first lecture.

Student Participation:
Students will be expected to perform three sets of tasks during the course:
I. The first is active and informed participation in the Discussion sections. The reading material assigned during the previous class will be the topic for discussion, along with the relevant lecture materials. Failure to participate or to have read the material beforehand will result in the loss of credit.

II. Second, the research paper or papers assigned, then subsequently discussed in the Discussion section will be the topic of a 3 page (single spaced 12 point Times or equivalent) critique due at least 2 days after the discussion section. These critiques are to be sent to Yager electronically as Microsoft Word files as enclosures in e-mail, and are due electronically at 5 PM on the date shown on the syllabus. Discussion among students preparing these critiques is strongly encouraged, but the actual writing of each critique must be in the student's own words. Late critiques will be graded down by 50%, and critiques more than one week overdue will not be accepted. The critiques must address at least the following questions (unless the assignment states otherwise):

1. A brief summary of the content of the paper(s) in your own words; how does the device or system work?
2. Do the authors adequately address the problems inherent in the device of system described?
3. Do the authors cover all the relevant literature up to the time of publication? (requires a literature search!)
4. What applications could be foreseen for the device or system (if not already mentioned in the paper(s))?
5. If there are more than one paper, compare and contrast the two approaches.
   

Writing must be in good formal (not colloquial) English, with attention paid to punctuation, grammar, etc. The weighting will be the following:

English writing and proofreading	1
Understanding of the paper(s)	2
Depth of research and coverage	2
Originality of ideas in interpretation	1

III. Third, there will be a take-home final examination. The exam will be handed out at the conclusion of the last class. It is due at 5 PM on the date assigned for the final examination for the class. Discussion or collaboration of the final examination among students is not permitted.

Grading:

Contribution	points
In Class Participation: 8 x (2 points) =	16
Written Critiques: 7 x (7 points) =	49
Final Examination:	35
TOTAL	100

The laboratory component of the class is separately graded pass/no pass. Laboratories will be held in the Fluke Hall Microfabrication Laboratory. Only students taking the lecture course for a grade will be allowed to take the laboratory.

For entry codes please see Isabel Landsberg 685-2022.

Tentative Schedule:

Date	Lecture Topic	Project Assigned	In-Class Discus-sion	Project Due	Laboratory
Monday January 3	Organization, Introduction				Project Definition
Wednesday January 5	Introduction to MEMS				-
Monday January 10	Classic Si micromachining	Paper Set 1			Device planning
Wednesday January 12	Si Micromachined devices		Paper Set 1
Monday January 17	HOLIDAY	-	-		-
Wednesday January 19	Laboratory Safety--WTC Microfab Lab Guest lecturer			Paper 1
Monday January 24	Microfab with unusual materials	Paper Set 2			Mask design
Wednesday January 26	Laminate Fabrication		Paper Set 2
Monday January 31	Soft Lithography Techniques	Paper Set 3		Paper 2	Design review, mask modification
Wednesday February 2	Soft Lithography Applications		Paper Set 3
Monday February 7	Fluidics	Paper Set 4		Paper 3	Mask printing
Wednesday February 9	Microfluidics, including lift effects		Paper Set 4
Monday February 14	Pumping&endash;Mechanical, Acoustic and Electroosmotic	Paper Set 5		Paper 4	Photoresist application and exposure
Wednesday February 16	Monitoring Flow		Paper Set 5
Monday February 21	HOLIDAY
Wednesday February 23	Capillary electrophoresis on a chip			Paper 5	HF etch
Monday February 28	Microfluidic Chemical Analytical Systems 2	Paper Set 6			EPW etching
Wednesday March 1	Microfluidic Chemical Analytical Systems 2		Paper Set 6
Monday March 6	MEMS-cell interactions	Paper Set 7		Paper 6	Preparation of PDMS, molding
Wednesday March 8	MEMS sensors with live cells		Paper Set 7
Monday March 13	MEMS in vivo and other topics we didn’t have time for before			Paper 7	Complete and document PDMS devices
Wednesday March 15	Presentation of Student Projects	Take Home Exam

 

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