Microfluidics and Microfabrication
Microfluidics and Microfabrication
NanoEarth
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory (EMSL-PNNL)
- Other
- All Other
- Other
Description
"EMSL’s microfluidics and microfabrication suite includes the ability to design, fabricate, evaluate and model microfluidic devices and other miniaturized constructs. Microfluidic devices are made from a variety of materials including glass, silicon, polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) and other polymers. PDMS is an elastomeric material that enables active flow control to be incorporated into the microfluidic devices using integrated microvalves.
These custom devices can be used for a wide variety of applications such as:
- Creating engineered, perturbable microenvironments for culturing unicellular organisms under various conditions and studying interorganismal interactions
- Developing pore-scale micromodels for subsurface flow and transport studies (see Pore-Scale Micromodels)
- Preparing and delivering ultra-small biological samples for mass spectrometry-based analyses (e.g., proteomics)
- Fabricating nanofluidic devices for ultrastructural characterization of microorganisms by TEM
Design
-Single layer and complex multilayer devices designed using AutoCAD
Fabrication
-Photolithographic patterning of micrometer-scale features. This includes in-house photomask production, spin coating, photomask alignment and exposure, and other wet chemical processing
-Nanofabrication using focused ion beam, helium ion microscope and electron-beam lithography
-Deep reactive ion etching and wet chemical etching for machining of silicon, glass and other materials
-Thin film deposition with a multi-target sputtering system to deposit a wide array of materials on surfaces
-Precise alignment and bonding of glass, silicon and multilayer PDMS devices for channel enclosure
-Surface functionalization using vapor deposition and silane chemistry
Characterization
-Flow control using custom valve and pressure control software
-Video microscopy and both optical and contact profilometry to characterize dimensions of microfabricated features
-Imaging within microfluidic channels using a wide array of microscopy capabilities at EMSL
-Direct interfacing of microfluidic devices with mass spectrometry using integrated electrospray ionization emitters
Modeling
-Flow modeling using COMSOL Multiphysics"
These custom devices can be used for a wide variety of applications such as:
- Creating engineered, perturbable microenvironments for culturing unicellular organisms under various conditions and studying interorganismal interactions
- Developing pore-scale micromodels for subsurface flow and transport studies (see Pore-Scale Micromodels)
- Preparing and delivering ultra-small biological samples for mass spectrometry-based analyses (e.g., proteomics)
- Fabricating nanofluidic devices for ultrastructural characterization of microorganisms by TEM
Design
-Single layer and complex multilayer devices designed using AutoCAD
Fabrication
-Photolithographic patterning of micrometer-scale features. This includes in-house photomask production, spin coating, photomask alignment and exposure, and other wet chemical processing
-Nanofabrication using focused ion beam, helium ion microscope and electron-beam lithography
-Deep reactive ion etching and wet chemical etching for machining of silicon, glass and other materials
-Thin film deposition with a multi-target sputtering system to deposit a wide array of materials on surfaces
-Precise alignment and bonding of glass, silicon and multilayer PDMS devices for channel enclosure
-Surface functionalization using vapor deposition and silane chemistry
Characterization
-Flow control using custom valve and pressure control software
-Video microscopy and both optical and contact profilometry to characterize dimensions of microfabricated features
-Imaging within microfluidic channels using a wide array of microscopy capabilities at EMSL
-Direct interfacing of microfluidic devices with mass spectrometry using integrated electrospray ionization emitters
Modeling
-Flow modeling using COMSOL Multiphysics"