Efficiency improvement of multilayer lab-on-a-chip production by dynamic beam shaping

Lab-on-a-Chip (LoC) systems are utilized for medicine and biotechnology applications. The field reaches from synthesis of active pharmaceutical ingredients up to the detection of specific biomarkers and the cultivation of human cells and human tissues for substance testing, personalized and regenerative medicine. LoC systems can be realized quickly and flexibly with an established closed technology chain developed at Fraunhofer IWS. In the first step, the system is constructively split into individual layers, which are later formed in each case by a separate foil. In the second step, a material with the desired properties is selected from the functional boundary conditions for each layer. In the third step, the foils are cut by means of laser micro-material processing, structured on both sides and optionally functionalized. In the fourth and final step, the individual foils are laminated together into a multilayer system using different technologies. In order to increase the effectiveness of laser micro-material processing, the established scanner-based optical design was further developed. The f-Theta lens was removed and replaced by a dynamic beam shaping element and a fixed focal length lens located in the beam path in advance of the scanner (""post-objective scanning""). As a high-dynamic beam shaping module, a mirror with piezo-driven surface curvature is used. The focal spot can be placed in a plane via a defined curvature as a function of the scanner mirror positions. By eliminating the f-Theta objective, the working area is increased by a factor of 4, resulting in a total process efficiency improvement.