FABRICATION OF POLYMER NANOFLUIDIC CHIPS WITH PROTON BEAM WRITING AND NANOIMPRINTING FOR DNA LINEARIZATION

Nanofluidic enclosed lab on chip (LOC) devices with nano size patterns and fast fabrication capability are required for biomedical experiments. Nanopatterning and fabrication methods for nanochannel devices are discussed with focusing on proton beam lithography, Ormostamp mold casting, nanoimprinting on PMMA and bonding procedures. Among various nanofabrication methods and chip substrate material, several type of polymer substrates are evaluated on throughput and functionality. The most suitable method to achieve high throughput replication of the nanofluidic devices is thermal imprinting. Nanoimprinting can be completed in minutes employing a rigid stamp, proper heating and cooling systems and optimized bonding conditions. Nano ridges patterns are transferred from resist master mold to rigid stamps and polymer substrate with high fidelity and minimal distortion. This replication method is compared with PDMS and X-PDMS casting on its merits. PMMA chips are shown to be a viable candidate for DNA imaging. These nanofluidic LOC devices are used for biomedical experiments like DNA molecules linearization and large-scale genome mapping. The cross section of the fluidic channels is chosen such that they mimic physiological condition.

Author dc:creator

• YAN PEIYAN

• nanofluidic lab-on-chip devices, proton beam writing, nanoimprinting, DNA linearization