1 Microfluidic Thin Film Pressure Balance for the Study of Complex Thin Films Sébastien Andrieux 1 , Pierre Muller 1 , Manish Kaushal 1 , Nadia Sofía Macias Vera 1 , Robin Bollache 1 , Clément Honorez 2 , Alain Cagna 3 , Wiebke Drenckhan 1 1 Université de Strasbourg, CNRS, Institut Charles Sadron UPR22, F-67000, Strasbourg, France 2 Laboratoire de Physique des Solides, CNRS, Université Paris-Saclay, 91405 Orsay, France 3 Teclis Scientific, 69380 Civrieux d’Azergues, France Abstract Investigations of free-standing liquid films enjoy an increasing popularity due to their relevance for many fundamental and applied scientific problems. They constitute soap bubbles and foams, serve as membranes for gas transport or as model membranes in biophysics. More generally, they provide a convenient tool for the investigation of numerous fundamental questions related to interface- and confinement-driven effects in soft matter science. Several approaches and devices have been developed in the past to characterise reliably the thinning and stability of such films, which were commonly created from low-viscosity, aqueous solutions/dispersions. With an increasing interest in the investigation of films made from strongly viscoelastic and complex fluids that may also solidify, the development of a new generation of devices is required to manage reliably the constraints imposed by these formulations. We therefore propose here a microfluidic chip design which allows for the reliable creation, control and characterisation of free-standing films of complex fluids. We provide all technical details and we demonstrate the device functioning for a larger range of systems via a selection of illustrative examples, including films of polymer melts and gelling hydrogels.  Current address of M.K.: Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur, Kharagpur-721302, India