Using pattern homogenization of binary grayscale masks to fabricate microfluidic structures with 3D topography

Because fluids at the microscale form three dimensional interfaces and are subject to three dimensional forces, the ability to create microstructures with modulated topography over large areas could greatly improve control over microfluidic phenomena (e.g., capillarity and mass transport) and enable exciting novel microfluidic applications. Here, we report a method for the fabrication of three-dimensional relief microstructures, based on the emergence of smooth features when a photopolymer is exposed to UV light through a transparency mask with binary motifs. We show that homogeneous features emerge under certain critical conditions that are also common to other, apparently unrelated, phenomena such as the emergence of macroscopic continuum properties of composite materials and the rates of ligand binding to cell membrane receptors. This fabrication method is simple and inexpensive, and yet it allows for the fabrication of microstructures over large areas (centimetres) with topographic modulation of features with characteristic dimensions smaller than 100 micrometres.