Dry release of polymer structures with anti-sticking layer

A dry release method using a thin Teflon(TM) layer for SU-8 multilayered polymeric microstructures is presented. The low surface energy of Teflon makes the adhesion of SU-8 and substrate poor, enabling the SU-8 polymer photoresist to be removed after the devices have been fully processed. The surface energy was measured using the open-crack method, and the surface roughness and deformation of the released SU-8 were minimized in our processing. The dry release technique eliminates the diffusion limited problem in wet etching and is suitable to package complex three-dimensional polymer microfluidic devices. One such example, which provided the original impetus to formulate a dry release process, is a multilayered SU-8 structure that encapsulates small quantities of fluid. This device is being developed for a biomedical application, and will be used throughout this article as an example of a complex SU-8 structure that uses the dry release process. (C) 2004 American Vacuum Society.