Microchannels are critical components of the microfluidic systems. But the low efficiency and high cost of conventional machining methods severely hinder the wide applications of microchannels. Here, we have reported a facile and low-cost strategy for the fabrication of microchannels on silicon substrate based on direct marker pen ink writing (DIW) and metal-assisted chemical etching (MaCE). Firstly, ink patterns were directly written on the bare silicon substrate by DIW without any polymer resist. They were utilized as stable mask in subsequent step, and can be easily removed by ethanol when not needed. Then, Ag nanofilms were deposited on the spaces between ink patterns by electroless deposition. Finally, silicon microchannels were fabricated by MaCE. During MaCE process, the Ag nanofilm was acted as catalyst and hydrogen peroxide-hydrofluoric acid solution was used as etching solution. The mask effect of ink patterns in the DIW-MaCE fabrication strategy was studied, and the effects of etching time, Ag nanofilm thickness, and etchant concentration on the formation of microchannels structures were also investigated. The microchannels structures were also fabricated to demonstrate the applications in microfluidics. We have introduced diamond tips of multi-probe microfabrication equipment to control the geometry and size of ink patterns in this study, and thus the final microchannels structures can be optimized during MaCE. The proposed DIW-MaCE strategy is facile and cost-effective for the fabrication of microchannels, and the microchannels structures are promising for extending the microfluidics and microsensors devices applications.

微通道是微流体系统的关键组成部分。但是传统加工方法的低效率和高成本严重阻碍了微通道的广泛应用。在这里，我们已经报道了一种基于直接记号笔墨水书写（DIW）和金属辅助化学蚀刻（MaCE）在硅基板上制造微通道的简便且低成本的策略。首先，在没有任何聚合物抗蚀剂的情况下，通过DIW将油墨图案直接写入裸硅基板上。它们在后续步骤中用作稳定的面膜，不需要时可以用乙醇轻松去除。然后，通过化学沉积将Ag纳米膜沉积在墨水图案之间的空间上。最后，MaCE制造了硅微通道。在MaCE过程中，以Ag纳米膜为催化剂，过氧化氢-氢氟酸溶液为刻蚀液。研究了DIW-MaCE制造策略中油墨图案的掩膜效应，并研究了蚀刻时间，Ag纳米膜厚度和蚀刻剂浓度对微通道结构形成的影响。还制造了微通道结构以证明在微流体中的应用。在本研究中，我们引入了多探针微加工设备的金刚石尖端来控制油墨图案的几何形状和尺寸，因此可以在MaCE期间优化最终的微通道结构。拟议的DIW-MaCE策略在制造微通道时既方便又具有成本效益，