Rapid prototyping of microscale devices using soft lithography

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The design and manufacture of microelectronic components has followed a steady path of miniaturization and increased power for the past several decades. While the public has reaped the benefits of these major technological advancements, they have not come without significant design challenges.  While electronic components have continued to get smaller, the devices used to cool them and the ability to fabricate heat transfer components to precise tolerances at the micro or nano scale has not kept pace with other advancements in the industry.  A relatively new technology, called soft lithography overcomes many of the difficulties of working at small dimensions and allows a variety of three-dimensional shapes to be fabricated with extraordinary detail and precision.   Soft lithography involves spraying small volumes of plastics or waxes using a technology similar to an ink jet printer.  Successive passes of material are applied through a spray to construct complex shapes one layer at a time.  By working in conjunction with a computer-aided design tool, intricate shapes can be fabricated and bonded to one another to form functioning parts such as microchannels, pumps, valves and compressors.  The soft parts can be used directly or used as a mold to form multiple components with relative simplicity and for a fraction of the cost associated with micromachining.