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The wettability of the surfaces inside the microchannels of a microfluidic device is an important property considering a liquid flows through them. Contact angle measurements usually applied to test the wettability of surfaces cannot be used for an analysis of microchannel walls within microfluidic devices. A workaround is the use of surface analytical methods, which are able to reach points of interest in microchannels and may provide information on the surface chemistry established there. In calibrating these methods by using flat polymer wafers, where the contact angle can be measured as usual, data measured in real microchannels can be evaluated in terms of wetting properties. Reference wafers of bisphenol-A polycarbonate, a polymeric material that is often used in fluidic microdevice fabrication, were treated under different oxygen plasma conditions. The modified surfaces were characterized by using XPS, time of flight (ToF)-SIMS and atomic force microscope (AFM). Surface chemistry and surface topography have been correlated with contact angle measurements. In addition, effects of ageing or rinsing after plasma treatment have also been investigated.
Recently, time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometry (ToF-SIMS) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) instrumentation has been used to address areas of interest within micro-fluidic devices providing full access to the surface chemistry established at the bottom of micro-channels therein. After careful calibration, information on surface chemistry as obtained by ToF-SIMS or XPS can be interpreted in terms of wettability expressed as contact angles which are then characteristic for the inner walls of micro-channels. Standard contact angle measurement is not applicable in micro-channels. The approach has been demonstrated to be successful with two different micro-fluidic devices hot embossed into high-end quality poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) or Polycarbonate wafers. A pre-selected surface chemistry at micro-channel walls can be established by plasma technologies but ageing and rinsing effects have to be under control. A combination of ToF-SIMS, XPS and contact angle measurement techniques has been demonstrated to provide the required information. Finally, it is shown by ToF-SIMS and XPS analysis that in the production of micro-fluidic parts during practical processing using hot embossing technologies, material originating from cover foils will reside on the polymer wafer's surface. Moreover, residues of releasing agents as silicone oil used during processing can be detected by ToF-SIMS. Both cover foil residues and silicones are issues of trouble shooting in micro-fluidics because they will change contact angles efficiently.
The certified reference material BAM-L200, a nanoscale stripe pattern for length calibration and specification of lateral resolution, is described. BAM-L200 is prepared from a cross-sectioned epitaxially grown layer stack of AlxGa1–xAs and InxGa1–xAs on a GaAs substrate. The surface of BAM-L200 provides a flat pattern with stripe widths ranging down to 1 nm. Calibration distances, grating periods and stripe widths have been certified by TEM with traceability to the length unit. The combination of gratings, isolated narrow stripes and sharp edges of wide stripes offers plenty of options for the determination of lateral resolution, sharpness and calibration of length scale at selected settings of imaging surface-analytical instruments. The feasibility of the reference material for an analysis of the lateral resolution is demonstrated in detail by evaluation of ToF-SIMS, AES and EDX images. Other applications developed in the community are summarized, too. BAM-L200 fully supports the implementation of the revised International Standard ISO 18516 (in preparation) which is based on knowledge outlined in the Technical Report ISO/TR 19319:2013.