Heating element embedded parylene microcolumn for miniature gas chromatograph

This paper presents the first miniature parylene gas chromatograph (GC) column with embedded heating element. The main advantage of a parylene microcolumn is its lower heat capacity compared with a micromachined silicon/glass column. The analysis time and power consumption of the miniature GC system can be decreased with a parylene microcolumn because of its rapid transient heating. In this paper, the fabrication and heat transfer of a heating element embedded parylene microcolumn are presented.