Microfluidic devices are routinely fabricated using replica moulding. The master relief structure is generally constructed on a silicon substrate and the stamps are made using polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS), cured via the slow process of hot-air convective heating. An alternative method that greatly reduces this cure time is presented here. It employs a low-cost, consumer-grade microwave oven and speeds up the curing process by permitting a much higher heat flux to be applied to the prepolymer. A specific pulsed irradiation protocol has been devised which achieves precisely controlled energy delivery for this purpose. This is necessary because silicon’s relatively much stronger microwave absorption causes uncontrollable temperature overshoots that could degrade PDMS if continuously irradiated. The protocol has been arrived at after due optimization of operational parameters, achieved via simulation of a finite element model. It has been implemented by modifying the control circuitry of the consumer grade oven. Cure times as low as two minutes have been demonstrated. Optical and mechanical characterization results show no adverse effect on the performance of PDMS cured using the proposed method. Thus, it can be used for the rapid fabrication of PDMS-based microfluidic devices and would be especially beneficial for research labs looking to speed up microfluidic device development iterations.

通常使用复制品模制来制造微流体装置。主浮雕结构通常构造在硅基板上，并且压模使用聚二甲基硅氧烷（PDMS）制成，并通过热空气对流加热的缓慢过程进行固化。这里介绍了一种可以大大减少固化时间的替代方法。它采用了低成本的消费级微波炉，并通过允许将更高的热通量施加到预聚物上来加快固化过程。已经设计出一种特定的脉冲辐照方案，其为此目的实现了精确控制的能量输送。这是必需的，因为硅相对较强的微波吸收会导致无法控制的温度过冲，如果持续照射，可能会使PDMS劣化。该协议是在通过对有限元模型进行仿真而对运行参数进行了最优化之后得出的。它是通过修改消费级烤箱的控制电路来实现的。已经证明固化时间低至两分钟。光学和机械表征结果表明，使用该方法固化的PDMS的性能没有受到不利影响。因此，它可以用于基于PDMS的微流体设备的快速制造，并且对于希望加快微流体设备开发迭代速度的研究实验室特别有用。光学和机械表征结果表明，使用所提出的方法对PDMS固化后的性能没有不利影响。因此，它可以用于基于PDMS的微流体设备的快速制造，并且对于希望加快微流体设备开发迭代速度的研究实验室特别有用。光学和机械表征结果表明，使用该方法固化的PDMS的性能没有受到不利影响。因此，它可以用于基于PDMS的微流体设备的快速制造，并且对于希望加快微流体设备开发迭代速度的研究实验室特别有用。