Chris Newmarker

November 5, 2015

1 Min Read
How Lasers Are Creating Cutting-Edge IVD

Laser cutters with extremely small tolerances are playing an important role when it comes to creating microfluidics for lab-on-a-chip devices. 

Chris Newmarker

Fabrico Medical (Rochester, NY) is bringing laser cutting to bear when it comes to creating tiny microfluidic channels for the latest IVD devices. 

The lasers are brought to bear on DuPont polymer layers and 3M adhesives to create channels at tolerances as small as 100 microns, Christopher Coyne of Fabrico business development explained Thursday at Minnesota Medtech Week. The laser "kiss cuts" a middle layer already stuck to the bottom layer, with a top layer applied after to create the card or chip. 

The laser can cut various channel depths, with an X, Y, and Z axis. Coyne has found the process especially useful for prototyping, because changing designs involves having to send new instructions to the laser, versus the retooling needed in competing processes such as stamping. 

Here is video of Coyne explaining the laser cutting process at the conference:

Chris Newmarker is senior editor of Qmed and MPMN. Follow him on Twitter at @newmarker.

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