Quick Takeaway
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PDMS is scalable — ship thousands to tens of thousands while retaining flexibility.
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Decide by application — diagnostics ≠ life sciences.
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Rule of thumb — begin injection molding DFM once you expect >500 units/month and your chemistry allows thermoplastics.
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Don’t pause revenue — keep PDMS shipping while tools and processes ramp.
Why “PDMS now, Molding next” is the winning pattern
If you’re developing a microfluidic product, the safest, fastest path is NOT “PDMS or injection molding.” It’s PDMS NOW, Injection Molding Next—on a parallel track. PDMS gets you shipping quickly, lets you iterate on real feedback, and avoids the long lead times and capital commitment of thermoplastic tooling. When demand and design stability arrive, you hand off to injection molding (IM) to capture long-term unit economics.
Why PDMS first
With our innovative closed, integrated molds, PDMS is already a disciplined, repeatable process: precise thickness and geometry control, bubble-free glass/PDMS or PDMS/PDMS bonding, and cleanroom SOPs that deliver industrial yield. Tooling is measured in days–weeks and low thousands of dollars—not months-years and high tens of thousands. For biology-facing applications (organ-on-chip, organoids, 3D cell culture), PDMS’s surface chemistry, permeability, and elasticity are often advantages—many teams keep PDMS as the final material. Learn more about our PDMS capacities.
Where injection molding shines
Injection molding is ideal once the design is locked and volumes are very high. After tool validation, unit costs scale down and production can be fully automated. But injection molding demands time and commitment: significant upfront tooling, months to years of development cycles, and slow, expensive design changes. Tooling too early risks freezing a design before biology, optics, or integration is mature. Learn more about our injection molding capacities.
Side-by-Side Comparison
What the parallel plan looks like
Choose PDMS for speed, design agility, and high-fidelity microfeatures—especially for biological interfaces. Begin injection molding when the forecast reaches 500/month. Planning both in sequence lets you move fast today without compromising tomorrow’s scale.The PDMS→Injection Molding transfer involves material selection, DFM, metrology, tool design, bonding development, and validation—work that can span many months to years depending on requirements.
One Partner-Consistent Quality
Both tracks run in our ISO 7 cleanrooms with full traceability. In PDMS, volume production of integrated closed molds eliminates manual punching and alignment errors that traditionally limited scale. In thermoplastics, we define and lock process windows that protect microfeatures, with in-line inspection and rigorous QC. You get one partner and a continuous history from prototype to scale.
Application Pathways (what to choose, when, and why)
How to decide? By application first (diagnostics ≠ life sciences), then by forecast volume, chemistry compatibility, and how often your design changes.
A simple rule of thumb:
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Start plastics DFM when you expect >500 units/month and your chemistry works on thermoplastic.
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Keep shipping PDMS in parallel while tools and processes ramp so you don’t pause revenue.
Below are the four most common application pathways—what to choose now, when to switch, and why.
Clinical Diagnostics (IVD)
Path: Use PDMS to design and development, then move to injection molding as soon as your design is frozen.
Why: Diagnostic products usually aim for very high volume (hundreds of thousands to millions per year) and need low unit cost and fully automated production. Plastics are the right long-term fit.
What to do next:
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While you’re still tweaking the design, ship small batches in PDMS.
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Once the design stops changing, start plastics design-for-manufacture (DFM) in parallel so tooling is ready.
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Keep PDMS shipping during tooling, trials and validation (pilot tool → IQ/OQ/PQ) so you don’t lose time or revenue.
Organ-on-a-Chip (OoC)
Path: For early discovery, PDMS is best. When your workflow is fixed (e.g., preclinical screening/GLP) and volume grows, consider moving the design into thermoplastic.
Why: Early OoC work changes often. PDMS makes that easy: it’s gas-permeable, optically clear, easy surface treatments, and lets you update the design quickly.
What to do next:
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In discovery, use a PDMS chip (you can mount it in a plastic frame/cassette if you like).
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If your protocol is fixed and throughput is rising, start a plastics DFM study to see what a transfer would look like.
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If biology truly needs PDMS long-term, stay PDMS—or use a hybrid (PDMS chip + plastic holder).
Single-cell / NGS cartridge / Droplet microfluidics
Path: Launch in PDMS, then move to plastics when you’re making several hundred units per month and your chemistry works on plastic.
Why: These teams need to launch and iterate quickly. PDMS lets you do that. Later, especially in the EU/US, rules around certain fluorinated oils and suppliers stopping old products push many groups towards COC/COP or glass chips for production.
What to do next:
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Treat formulation as the first decision: test your oil/surfactant, wetting and any coatings on PDMS, COC/COP and glass early.
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If you expect >500/month, begin plastics DFM while you keep shipping PDMS.
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Switch when your chemistry is proven on plastic and demand is steady.
Liquid biopsy & Applications with High-Fidelity Micro-Features
Path: Stay PDMS (or PDMS/glass) when you need micro/nano fidelity that is difficult or uneconomic in plastics.
Why: Getting the same tiny detail in thermoplastics can require special tools, long development and higher overall cost. PDMS copies fine features well and is quicker to adjust.
What to do next:
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Use PDMS for the core micro-structures; add a plastic frame if you need a cartridge.
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If you must try plastics, plan extra time for tooling trials and expect some design compromises.
Quick Rules to Remember
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PDMS is scalable: you can ship thousands to tens of thousands with the right parnter and QC.
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Injection molding makes sense when you expect >500 units/month and your chemistry allows plastics.
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Don’t pause revenue: keep PDMS shipping while tools and processes for plastics ramp up.
See both lines in action
One partner, two production lines: PDMS for speed and iteration, injection molding for scale.
