Direct integration of micromachined pipettes in a flow channel forsingle DNA molecule study by optical tweezers
Rusu, C.; vanapos;t Oever, R.; de Boer, M.J.; Jansen, H.V.; Berenschot, J.W.; Bennink, M.L.; Kanger, J.S.; de Grooth, B.G.; Elwenspoek, M.; Greve, J.; Brugger, J.; van den Berg, A.
Microelectromechanical Systems, Journal of
Volume 10, Issue 2, Jun 2001 Page(s):238 - 246
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/84.925758
Summary:We have developed a micromachined flow cell consisting of a flow
channel integrated with micropipettes. The flow cell is used in
combination with an optical trap setup (optical tweezers) to study
mechanical and structural properties of λ-DNA molecules. The flow
cell was realized using silicon micromachining including the so-called
buried channel technology to fabricate the micropipettes, the wet
etching of glass to create the flow channel, and the powder blasting of
glass to make the fluid connections. The volume of the flow cell is 2
μl. The pipettes have a length of 130 μm, a width of 5-10 μm, a
round opening of 1 μm and can be processed with different shapes.
Using this flow cell we stretched single molecules (λ-DNA)
showing typical force-extension curves also found with conventional
techniques. These pipettes can be also used for drug delivery, for
injection of small gas bubbles into a liquid flow to monitor the
streamlines, and for the mixing of liquids to study diffusion effects.
The paper describes the design, the fabrication and testing of the flow
cell
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