Low-cost photolithography system for cell biology labs

Abstract: Soft lithography, a tool widely applied in biology and life sciences with numerous applications, uses the soft molding of photolithography-generated master structures by polymers. The central part of a photolithography set-up is a mask-aligner mostly based on a high-pressure mercury lamp as an ultraviolet (UV) light source. This type of light source requires a high level of maintenance and shows a decreasing intensity over its lifetime, influencing the lithography outcome. In this paper, we present a low-cost, bench-top photolithography tool based on ninety-eight 375 nm light-emitting diodes (LEDs). With approx. 10 W, our presented lithography set-up requires only a fraction of the energy of a conventional lamp, the LEDs have a guaranteed lifetime of 1000 h, which becomes noticeable by at least 2.5 to 15 times more exposure cycles compared to a standard light source and with costs less than 850 C it is very affordable. Such a set-up is not only attractive to small academic and industrial fabrication facilities who want to enable work with the technology of photolithography and cannot afford a conventional set-up, but also microfluidic teaching laboratories and microfluidic research and development laboratories, in general, could benefit from this cost-effective alternative. With our self-built photolithography system, we were able to produce structures from 6 μm to 50 μm in height and 10 μm to 200 μm in width. As an optional feature, we present a scaled-down laminar flow hood to enable a dust-free working environment for the photolithography process.

Object Details

• Location: Deutsche Nationalbibliothek Frankfurt am Main
• Extent: Online-Ressource
• Language: Englisch

References and Relationships

• Bibliographic citation: Low-cost photolithography system for cell biology labs ; volume:7 ; number:2 ; year:2021 ; pages:550-553 ; extent:4 ; Current directions in biomedical engineering ; 7, Heft 2 (2021), 550-553 (gesamt 4)

Contributors, Places and Time

• Creator: Naggay, Benjamin K. ; Frey, Kerstin ; Schneider, Markus ; Athanasopulu, Kiriaki ; Lorenz, Günter ; Kemkemer, Ralf

Further information

• DOI: 10.1515/cdbme-2021-2140
• URN: urn:nbn:de:101:1-2022101214035243538740
• Rights: Open Access; Der Zugriff auf das Objekt ist unbeschränkt möglich.
• Last update: 2025-08-15T07:24:42+0200