Microfluidic devices technology

Recently, most research groups have focused on the MEMS process based on microelectronics to materialize microfluidic device technology. This... 

D., Hocker, H., Legewie, F., Poprawe, R., Wehner, M., Wild, M., Laser processing for manufacturing microfluidic devices, in Eheeeld, W. (Ed.), Microreaction Technology 3rd International Conference on Microreaction Technology, Proc. of IMRET 3, pp. 80-89, Springer-Verlag, Berlin (2000). 

While it is true that microarray technology is gearing up for proteomics, it is perhaps still too early to predict what role microarrays will ultimately play. Proteins are much more complex molecules than nucleic acids and the suggestion has been made that additional tools and approaches will be needed. Microfluidic devices (electrophoresis, flow cytometry) with miniaturized detectors may also be applicable. 

The membrane technology has been tested in microfluidic devices. Normally a membrane is mounted between two chips, which make a microchannel, and fluid is allowed to pass through the membrane channel. Some papers are available on this method, which are discussed here. Hisamoto et al. [61] reviewed the application of capillary assembled microchips on PDMS as an online... 

The discovery of semiconductor integrated circuits by Bardeen, Brattain, Shockley, Kilby, and Noyce was a revolution in the micro and nano worlds. The concept of miniaturization and integration has been exploited in many areas with remarkable achievements in computers and information technology. The utility of microchips was also realized by analytical scientists and has been used in chromatography and capillary electrophoresis. In 1990, Manz et al. [1] used microfluidic devices in separation science. Later on, other scientists also worked with these units for separation and identification of various compounds. A proliferation of papers has been reported since 1990 and today a good number of publications are available in the literature on NLC and NCE. We have searched the literature through analytical and chemical abstracts, Medline, Science Finder, and peer reviewed journals and found a few thousand papers on chips but we selected only those papers related to NLC and NCE techniques. Attempts have been made to record the development of microfluidic devices in separation science. The number of papers published in the last decade (1998-2007) is shown in Fig. 10.1, which clearly indicates rapid development in microfluidic devices as analytical tools. About 30 papers were published in 1998 that number has risen to 400 in... 

This data indicates that the future of microfluidic devices in separation science and technology is quite good. The importance of nano separations has already been discussed at various places in different chapters. The chapter describes the future of nanoanalyses in separation science. 

The microfluidic devices, often called Christmas tree owing to the pattern of the channels, were fabricated from polydimethylsiloxane (PMDS) using common micro technologies (see Figure 1.69). A mask is formed by using a high-resolution 3300 dpi printer to transfer the CAD pattern to a transparent mask substrate. 

Giovannini, H., New process for manufacturing ceramic microfluidic devices for microreactor and bioanalytical applications, in Matlosz, M., Ehrfeld, W., Baselt, J. P. (Eds.), Microreaction Technology - IMRET 5 Proc. of the 5th International Conference on Microreaction Technology, Springer-Verlag, Berlin, 2001, 103-112. 

Sudarsan, A.P., Ugaz, V.M., Printed circuit technology for fabrication of plastic-based microfluidic devices. Anal. Chem. 2004, 76, 3229-3235. 

Metz, S., Trautmann, C., Bertsch, A., Renaud, Ph., Polyimide microfluidic devices with integrated nanoporous filtration areas manufactured by micromachining and ion track technology. J. Micromech. Microeng. 2004, 14, 324-331. 

Electrochemical detection offers also great promise for CZE microchips, and for other chip-based analytical microsystems (e.g., Lab-on-a-Chip) discussed in Section 6.3 (77-83). Particularly attractive for such microfluidic devices are the high sensitivity of electrochemical detection, its inherent miniaturization of both the detector and control instrumentation, low cost, low power demands, and compatibility with micromachining technologies. Various detector configurations, based on different capillary/working-electrode... 

---