The μsCAPE system: 3-dimensional profiling of microfluidic architectural features using a flatbed scanner

Abstract

We developed a microfluidic scanner-based profile exploration system, μSCAPE, capable of generating high resolution 3D profiles of microstructure architecture in a variety of transparent substrates. The profile is obtained by scanning the dye-filled microstructure followed by absorbance calculation and the reconstruction of the optical length at each point. The power of the method was demonstrated in (1) the inspection of the variation of the cross-section of laser-ablated PDMS channel; (2) the volume of PeT chamber; and (3) the population distribution of the volumes of the micro wells in HF-etched glass and laser-ablated PDMS. The reported methods features low equipment-cost, convenient operation and large field of view (FOV), and has revealed unreported quality parameters of the tested microstructures.