Abstract

Microfluidics has been broadly employed to analyze chemical/biological processes due to its advantages in fast analysis speed, reduced reagent consumption and enhanced system performance and functionality. Most polymeric and glassy substrates used in microfluidics chips are not transparent in the mid-IR region. Moremore, the normal IR-compatible materials are expensive and challenging for micro-fabrication. Transparent polycrystalline ceramics can solve the problems and have potential to be used in microfluidics applications coupled with FTIR analysis, providing that the required micro-features can be manufactured in the transparent ceramic substrates. Powder Injection Molding (PIM) combining plastic injection molding and conventional powder metallurgy has been applied to produce near-net shape high performance products with small features. In this paper, IR transparent ceramic microfluidic chips with small channel size were produced by PIM process. The feature profile, microstructures and optical properties of the produced parts are characterized.