Biophotonic MEMS for single molecule detection and manipulation

The development of biophotonic MEMS for single molecule detection (SMD), manipulation and optical trapping is presented. Integrated cyclic Si/sub x/N/sub y/ microfluidic devices with microelectrodes are fabricated with surface micromachining techniques. Microfluidic channels in the optical windows consist of just Si/sub x/N/sub y/ membrane without substrates. Capability of SMD, manipulation and optical trapping are demonstrated with the Si/sub x/N/sub y/ membrane channels. Such a device can be used in high throughput screening bioassay chips, which require multiplexed processing, SMD, and manipulation capability. Compared with earlier works on microfluidic devices formed by bonding two-glass substrates or polymers, our multiplexed design has attractive features such as bondless nano- and microfluidic channels, low transmission loss, and high stability to temperature and chemicals. The advanced biophotonic MEMS will have characterization and multiple manipulation tools for high-resolution spectroscopic analysis, robotic controls, and microscale lab automations on a chip.