Injection moulding of parts with microstructured surfaces for medical applications

m2M-systems (micro-to-Macro) are parts with lateral dimensions of macroscopic scale and structures on the surface in the dimension of microns. The microstructure on the surface has a specific function depending on the intended purpose of the parts. With the use of m2M-systems new methods of medical diagnostics are possible. Nowadays for the realisation of such parts mainly planar methods known from microelectronics and their standard materials silicon and glass are used. An alternative is to make m2M-systems by injection moulding of plastics which lowers the manufacturing costs. In order to get an acceptable replication of the microstructure the use of special moulding techniques is necessary. The results of investigations in the variotherm moulding process and the requirements for the injection moulding machine are described in this paper.