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A rapid and reliable bonding process for microchip electrophoresis fabricated in glass substrates
Author(s) -
Segato Thiago Pinotti,
Coltro Wendell Karlos Tomazelli,
de Jesus Almeida André Luiz,
de Oliveira Piazetta Maria Helena,
Gobbi Angelo Luiz,
Mazo Luiz Henrique,
Carrilho Emanuel
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
electrophoresis
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.666
H-Index - 158
eISSN - 1522-2683
pISSN - 0173-0835
DOI - 10.1002/elps.201000099
Subject(s) - photolithography , materials science , repeatability , fabrication , etching (microfabrication) , isotropic etching , layer (electronics) , chip , optoelectronics , electrode , nanotechnology , chromatography , electrical engineering , chemistry , medicine , alternative medicine , engineering , pathology
In this report, we describe a rapid and reliable process to bond channels fabricated in glass substrates. Glass channels were fabricated by photolithography and wet chemical etching. The resulting channels were bonded against another glass plate containing a 50‐μm thick PDMS layer. This same PDMS layer was also used to provide the electrical insulation of planar electrodes to carry out capacitively coupled contactless conductivity detection. The analytical performance of the proposed device was shown by using both LIF and capacitively coupled contactless conductivity detection systems. Efficiency around 47 000 plates/m was achieved with good chip‐to‐chip repeatability and satisfactory long‐term stability of EOF. The RSD for the EOF measured in three different devices was ca. 7%. For a chip‐to‐chip comparison, the RSD values for migration time, electrophoretic current and peak area were below 10%. With the proposed approach, a single chip can be fabricated in less than 30 min including patterning, etching and sealing steps. This fabrication process is faster and easier than the thermal bonding process. Besides, the proposed method does not require high temperatures and provides excellent day‐to‐day and device‐to‐device repeatability.