What does mechanical grade mean for surface roughness on a silicon wafer such as Item #1093? We are planning on using it as a base for 3D printing a template to fabricate PDMS microfluidic channels.
Silicon Wafers for PDMS Soft Lithography & Microfluidics
Researchers frequently use silicon wafers as master molds for PDMS (Polydimethylsiloxane) fabrication, microfluidic devices, lab-on-a-chip systems, biosensors, and MEMS applications. The flat surface, dimensional stability, and compatibility with photolithography make silicon substrates an ideal platform for creating precise PDMS molds and microchannel structures.
An undergraduate researcher requested the following quote:
Reference #201836 for specifications and pricing.
PDMS Molds for Drug Delivery Research
PDMS inverse molds are widely used in pharmaceutical and biomedical engineering applications to create particles, microstructures, and controlled-release drug delivery systems. Researchers often select thermal oxide coated silicon wafers because the oxide layer can serve as an etch mask during complex microfabrication processes.
A doctoral student requested thermal oxide wafers for the following project:
Ultimately I want to fabricate particles for drug delivery. The process involves creating a silicon master mold, producing a PDMS inverse mold, and then filling the mold with a polymer that becomes the final particle. The thermal oxide layer was required for multiple photolithography and etching steps using photoresist and BOE processing.
Reference #42248 for specifications and pricing.
Custom Silicon Substrates for PDMS Applications
- Silicon wafers for PDMS soft lithography
- Mechanical grade silicon wafers
- Single-side polished (SSP) silicon wafers
- Thermal oxide coated silicon wafers
- Microfluidic device substrates
- MEMS fabrication wafers
- Silicon master molds for PDMS casting
- Custom etched silicon substrates with microchannels
Get Your PDMS Mold Substrate Quote FAST! Or, Buy Online and Start Researching Today!
What is PDMS?
PDMS, or Polydimethylsiloxane, is a flexible silicone elastomer widely used in microfluidics, soft lithography, lab-on-a-chip devices, MEMS, biosensors, drug delivery research, and biomedical engineering. Researchers use PDMS because it is transparent, flexible, biocompatible, chemically stable, and able to reproduce very small microstructures from a patterned master mold.
PDMS is commonly cast onto silicon substrates or thermal oxide coated silicon wafers to create microchannels, stamps, and replica molds for research applications.
How is PDMS Used With Silicon Wafers?
In soft lithography, a patterned silicon wafer master mold is first created using photolithography, photoresist, oxide masking, or silicon etching. Liquid PDMS is then poured or spin-coated over the mold, cured, and peeled away to form a flexible replica containing the desired microchannel pattern.
This PDMS replica can then be bonded to glass, silicon, or another PDMS layer to fabricate microfluidic devices, microreactors, cell culture platforms, biosensors, and lab-on-a-chip systems.
Benefits of PDMS for Microfluidic Devices
- Accurately replicates micron-scale and sub-micron surface patterns
- Transparent material for optical inspection and microscopy
- Flexible and easy to remove from silicon master molds
- Biocompatible for cell studies, biosensors, and biomedical research
- Useful for microchannels, PDMS stamps, valves, and lab-on-a-chip devices
- Compatible with silicon wafers, oxide wafers, glass, and photoresist molds
Silicon Wafer Master Molds for PDMS Soft Lithography
Silicon wafers are one of the most common substrates used to create PDMS master molds because they provide a flat, rigid, and dimensionally stable surface for photolithography and etching. Researchers often choose 100 mm silicon wafers, 2-inch silicon wafers, 3-inch silicon wafers, SSP wafers, thermal oxide wafers, and etched silicon substrates depending on their device size and microchannel design.
For PDMS casting in standard petri dishes, smaller wafer sizes such as 2-inch silicon wafers and 3-inch silicon wafers are often preferred. Larger wafers may be selected when multiple PDMS devices or repeated patterns are needed on one substrate.
PDMS Microchannels and Custom Etched Silicon Substrates
UniversityWafer has supplied custom etched silicon substrates for PDMS microchannel fabrication, including diced 10 mm x 10 mm silicon pieces with 3 µm, 5 µm, and 10 µm channel depths and spacing options. These structures can be used to create PDMS stamps, microfluidic channels, and research molds with controlled feature sizes.
Common PDMS soft lithography substrate requests include:
- Silicon wafers for PDMS master molds
- Thermal oxide coated wafers for nested etching
- Mechanical grade silicon wafers for template printing
- Diced silicon substrates with etched microchannels
- Photoresist-patterned wafers for PDMS replica molding
- SSP silicon wafers for soft lithography research
What Wafer Specifications Should You Request?
When requesting a silicon wafer for PDMS soft lithography, include the wafer diameter, thickness, orientation, surface finish, oxide thickness if needed, microchannel depth, feature width, spacing, dicing size, and quantity. For simple PDMS casting, doping is usually not critical, but wafer flatness, surface finish, oxide layer, and thickness may be important depending on the mold process.
Get Your PDMS Mold Substrate Quote FAST! Contact UniversityWafer for silicon wafers, oxide coated wafers, diced silicon pieces, or custom etched microchannel substrates for PDMS soft lithography and microfluidic research.