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Cavities fabricated on the microscale have a wide variety of applications, from microwells for cell cultures, microfluidic channels for drug delivery systems to waveguide structures for RF applications. Micro-cavities are particularly useful for sensing applications, such as cavity-based pressure sensors and gap-based capacitive sensors. Cavity structures have been widely demonstrated in MEMS devices using typical semiconductor processing. However, the development of similar structures for flexible applications poses additional challenges. While flexible cavity structures have been fabricated in laboratory environments, challenges arise when these structures are integrated into a larger flexible sensing device or flexible hybrid electronics system. An additive manufacturing approach to cavity formation is presented which utilizes a 3D screen-printing process and in-situ cure. Patterned micro-structures are formed by building up layers of dielectric ink interspersed as needed with printed conductive traces. A proof-of-concept microfluidic channel-based capacitor is fabricated to demonstrate the potential sensing applications for the fabricated microcavities.more » « less
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