Protein patterning by microcontact printing using pyramidal PDMS stamps.
Protein patterning by microcontact printing using pyramidal PDMS stamps.
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DOI：
10.1007/s10544-016-0036-4
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发表时间：
2016-02
影响因子：
2.8
通讯作者：
Nicolau DV
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Filipponi L;Livingston P;Kašpar O;Tokárová V;Nicolau DV
微接触印刷（Micro-contact printing，μCP）是一种成熟的用于印刷生物分子的软光刻技术。μCP使用由聚二甲基硅氧烷（PDMS）制成的印模，通过复制半导体制造工艺制造的微结构硅母版制成。μCP的问题之一是难以控制打印过程，由于PDMS的高压缩性，打印过程对施加压力的微小变化非常敏感。这种过度敏感的响应导致具有高纵横比的印模的频繁和/或不可控的塌陷，从而降低印刷精度和再现性。在这里，我们提出了一个简单的方法，设计和制造PDMS结构的架构，它使用的邮票的崩溃，以减少，而不是扩大印刷的可变性。PDMS印模被组织成金字塔形微柱阵列，当压在平坦表面上时其顶部塌陷，复制了通过各向异性湿法蚀刻制造的硅母版的结构。在施加压力时，取决于PDMS金字塔的尺寸和之间的间距，围绕整个阵列或单个柱形成气隙。打印技术也表现出非常低的荧光检测背景噪声，当蛋白质图案的形状和它们之间的距离的明确界限是关键时，可以找到应用，例如微阵列和细胞图案的研究。本文的在线版本（doi：10.1007/s10544-016-0036-4）包含补充材料，可供授权用户使用。
Micro-contact printing, μCP, is a well-established soft-lithography technique for printing biomolecules. μCP uses stamps made of Poly(dimethylsiloxane), PDMS, made by replicating a microstructured silicon master fabricated by semiconductor manufacturing processes. One of the problems of the μCP is the difficult control of the printing process, which, because of the high compressibility of PDMS, is very sensitive to minute changes in the applied pressure. This over-sensitive response leads to frequent and/or uncontrollable collapse of the stamps with high aspect ratios, thus decreasing the printing accuracy and reproducibility. Here we present a straightforward methodology of designing and fabricating PDMS structures with an architecture which uses the collapse of the stamp to reduce, rather than enlarge the variability of the printing. The PDMS stamp, organized as an array of pyramidal micro-posts, whose ceiling collapses when pressed on a flat surface, replicates the structure of the silicon master fabricated by anisotropic wet etching. Upon application of pressure, depending on the size of, and the pitch between, the PDMS pyramids, an air gap is formed surrounding either the entire array, or individual posts. The printing technology, which also exhibits a remarkably low background noise for fluorescence detection, may find applications when the clear demarcation of the shapes of protein patterns and the distance between them are critical, such as microarrays and studies of cell patterning. The online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s10544-016-0036-4) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.