GE 02018 nature americaine,rghts reserved [PROTOCOL Figure 3 | Fabrication of porous POMS poco Pos rebranes. (4) PDMS is sin-coated on a ‘reves ‘lanized POMS slab te fom a 20-m-tick film of uncures POMS. (be) Subsequently, the POMS sla placed en a sidan water patterned with an array of miceFabreated plas (b) ane compressed uniformly against the master using weight during POMS caring () The diameter ang height ofthe plas are 10 um and 50 um, respectively (4) After complete curing of POMS, ‘he weight an silicon master are removed to produce 10;um-thick POMS membrane with ricrofabricated through-halesthatisreversily tached to slanted POMS surface b 49] Clean the PONS block with packaging tape as described in Step 33, and adhere it onto a clean glass slide. 50] Put a piece of packaging tape on the top surface of the POMS slab to prevent the deposition of dust particles. 54] Remove the tape and place the PDMS block bonded to a glass slide in a desiccator. 52] Puta clean glass side adjacent tothe POMS sla, and use a pipette to dispense ~35 lof united sitane onthe glas surface. CAUTION Perform this procedure inside a ventilated chemical fume hood and be sure to wear safety glasses, gloves and face protection. A CRITICAL STEP It is important to use small amounts of sitane during this process to prevent the formation of residues on the surface. 53] Apply vacuum to the chamber, and keep the POMS slab in the evacuated chamber overnight, '54| Remove the silanized POMS slab from the desiccator and keep it in a covered Petri dish until use. 55] Mix POMS base with a curing agent at a weight ratio of 10:1 (prepolymer:curing agent) and degas it as described in Step 23. '56| Clean the silanized POMS substrate attached to a glass slide from Step 54 by using compressed filtered air, and place it, fom a vacuum chuck of a spin coater. 57| Gently pour a 10:1 PDMS mixture over the silanized surface and wait for 10 min, '58| Ramp the spinning speed up to 500 rp.m. at 100 rp.m. s-* and dwell for 20 sto allow PDMS to initially spread the POMS mixture over the entire surface, 59] Increase the speed to 2,400 rpm. over 15 s and hold it for 10 min, This produces a 10-pm-thick layer of uncured POMS om the silanized POMS slab (Fig. 3a). 60] When spin-coating is complete, allow the sample to rest for 3 min before transferring it to a work bench. 64| Slowly peel the silanized POMS block from the glass slide. A CRITICAL STEP Avoid unwanted contact with the top surface coated with uncured PDMS and prevent excessive bending of the slab. 62| Invert the silanized POMS slab and bring the PDMS-coated surface in contact with a silanized silicon wafer containing an array of microfabricated silicon pillars that are 10 ym in diameter and 50 um in height with a center-to-center spacing of 40 um (Fig. 3b). ‘A-CRITICAL STEP The siticon wafer needs to be silanized properly before use to prevent detachment ar fracture of the microfabricated silicon posts during membrane fabrication. 2146 | OL.s 11 | 2015 | NATURE PROTOCOLS