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<p>The application of microfluidic technologies for the isolation and analysis of circulating tumor cells (CTCs) has grown significantly, driven by their potential in clinical diagnostics and therapeutics. While many microfluidic platforms have been demonstrated, their clinical translation requires scalable and reproducible fabrication methods. In this study, we present a high-precision plastic injection molding process for the mass production of microfluidic chips designed for CTC filtration. A tapered microchannel array (21&#xa0;μm inlet to 6&#xa0;μm outlet, 30&#xa0;μm height) was adapted from a previously reported design. A nickel stamper was fabricated by UV lithography and electroforming and employed in variothermal injection molding to achieve high replication fidelity. Process optimization revealed that increasing mold temperature improved cavity filling but induced edge deformations during demolding, which could be mitigated by longer cooling times at the cost of productivity. Variothermal molding enabled complete feature replication, including micro-ridge corners, without detectable deformation at a cycle time of ~ 1&#xa0;min. Hermetic sealing was achieved by ultrasonic welding with peripheral and spot weld beads, with optimal bonding observed at 400&#xa0;J of ultrasonic energy. Functional validation with A549 cells demonstrated nearly complete filtration below 4 mL/h, while filtration efficiency decreased at higher flow rates due to cell deformation. These results establish injection molding with ultrasonic welding as a viable strategy for the scalable production of microfluidic chips for CTC isolation.</p>

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Scalable fabrication of plastic microfluidic chips via injection molding and ultrasonic welding for CTC isolation

  • 期刊论文

  • 出版模式：

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  • 发表日期：

    2025年11月19日

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  • Sang-Won Woo,
  • Sinyoung Cheong,
  • Hyun-Hyang Park,
  • Jung-Yup Kim,
  • Sunghwan Chang,
  • Yeong-Eun Yoo

摘要

The application of microfluidic technologies for the isolation and analysis of circulating tumor cells (CTCs) has grown significantly, driven by their potential in clinical diagnostics and therapeutics. While many microfluidic platforms have been demonstrated, their clinical translation requires scalable and reproducible fabrication methods. In this study, we present a high-precision plastic injection molding process for the mass production of microfluidic chips designed for CTC filtration. A tapered microchannel array (21 μm inlet to 6 μm outlet, 30 μm height) was adapted from a previously reported design. A nickel stamper was fabricated by UV lithography and electroforming and employed in variothermal injection molding to achieve high replication fidelity. Process optimization revealed that increasing mold temperature improved cavity filling but induced edge deformations during demolding, which could be mitigated by longer cooling times at the cost of productivity. Variothermal molding enabled complete feature replication, including micro-ridge corners, without detectable deformation at a cycle time of ~ 1 min. Hermetic sealing was achieved by ultrasonic welding with peripheral and spot weld beads, with optimal bonding observed at 400 J of ultrasonic energy. Functional validation with A549 cells demonstrated nearly complete filtration below 4 mL/h, while filtration efficiency decreased at higher flow rates due to cell deformation. These results establish injection molding with ultrasonic welding as a viable strategy for the scalable production of microfluidic chips for CTC isolation.