In situ roughening of polymeric microstructures

A method to perform in situ roughening of arrays of microstructures weakly adherent to an underlying substrate was presented. SU8, 1002F, and polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) microstructures were roughened by polishing with a particle slurry. The roughness and the percentage of dislodged or damaged microstructures was evaluated as a function of the roughening time for both SU8 and 1002F structures. A maximal RMS roughness of 7-18 nm for the surfaces was obtained within 15-30 s of polishing with the slurry. This represented a 4-9 fold increase in surface roughness relative to that of the native surface. Less than 0.8% of the microstructures on the array were removed or damaged after 5 min of polishing. Native and roughened arrays were assessed for their ability to support fibronectin adhesion and cell attachment and growth. The quantity of adherent fibronectin was increased on roughened arrays by two-fold over that on native arrays. Cell adhesion to the roughened surfaces was also increased compared to native surfaces. Surface roughening with the particle slurry also improved the ability to stamp molecules onto the substrate during microcontact printing. Roughening both the PDMS stamp and substrate resulted in up to a 20-fold improvement in the transfer of BSA-Alexa Fluor 647 from the stamp to the substrate. Thus roughening of micrometer-scale surfaces with a particle slurry increased the adhesion of biomolecules as well as cells to microstructures with little to no damage to largescale arrays of the structures.