Low auto-fluorescence fabrication methods for plastic nanoslits

IET Nanobiotechnol. 2016 Apr;10(2):75-80. doi: 10.1049/iet-nbt.2015.0045.

Abstract

Plastic nanofluidic devices are becoming increasingly important for biological and chemical applications. However, they suffer from high auto-fluorescence when used for on-chip optical detection. In this study, the auto-fluorescence problem of plastic nanofluidic devices was remedied by newly developed fabrication methods that minimise their auto-fluorescence: one by depositing a gold (Au) layer on them, the other by making them ultra-thin. In the first method, the Au layer [minimum thickness is 40 nm on 150 μm SU-8, 50 nm on 1 mm polyethylene terephthalate (PET), and 40 on 2 nm polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA)] blocks the auto-fluorescence of the polymer; in the second method, auto-fluorescence is minimised by making the chips ultra-thin, selected operating thickness of SU-8 is 20 μm, for PET it is 150 μm, and for PMMA it is 0.8 mm.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Dimethylpolysiloxanes / chemistry
  • Equipment Design
  • Fluorescence
  • Gold / chemistry
  • Lab-On-A-Chip Devices*
  • Microfluidic Analytical Techniques / instrumentation
  • Microtechnology / methods*
  • Nanostructures / chemistry*
  • Nylons / chemistry
  • Plastics / chemical synthesis*
  • Plastics / chemistry
  • Polymethyl Methacrylate / chemical synthesis
  • Polymethyl Methacrylate / chemistry
  • Silicon Dioxide / chemistry

Substances

  • Dimethylpolysiloxanes
  • Nylons
  • Plastics
  • poly(dimethylsiloxane)-polyamide copolymer
  • Gold
  • Silicon Dioxide
  • Polymethyl Methacrylate