X-FAB expands foundry offering for silicon-based microfluidics

Part of its extensive MEMS-oriented technology offering, the company is now able to provide a large variety of process capabilities for silicon- based microfluidic systems. Combined with a highly standardised foundry approach, X-FAB believes this will help to remove barriers to market entry and shorten development cycles. X-FAB has made USD 25 million worth of investment in this area over the course of the last five years. In that time, the company has undertaken numerous projects for medical and industrial clients. These include applications such as lab-on-a-chip, DNA sequencing and synthesis, cancer diagnostics, and so on. Through these projects, its engineering team has gained proficiency in areas like noble metal processing, high aspect-ratio deep reactive ion-etching (DRIE) and the deposition of both organic and inorganic materials. “We are seeing a growing number of requests to implement silicon-based microfluidics. As a consequence, our engineering team is striving to bring two worlds together; so that medical OEMs' deep understanding of physiology and fluid analysis can be combined with X-FAB’s knowledge of high-volume semiconductor manufacturing technologies,” says Volker Herbig, VP of X-FAB’s MEMS business unit, in a press release. “We are excited to help our medical customers in developing their smart integrated microfluidic systems via the multitude of new process capabilities we can now offer.”