Publications Details
Quartz Channel Fabrication for Electrokinetically Driven Separations
For well resolved electrokinetic separation, we L tilize crystalline quartz to micromachine a uniformly packe Q&iKLmnel. Packing features are posts 5 Vm on a side with:} pm spacing and etched 42 Vm deep. In addition to anisotropic wet etch characteristics for micromachining, quartz propmties are compatible with chemical soiutioits, ekctrokinetic high voltage operation, and stationary phase film depositions. To seal these channels, we employ a room temperature silicon-oxynhride deposition to forma membrane, that is subsequently coated for mechanical stability. Using this technique, particulate issues and global warp, that make large area wafer bon ding methods difficult, are avoided, and a room temperature process, in contrast to high temperature bonding techniques, accommodate preprocessing of metal films for electrical interconnect. After sealing channels, a number of macro-assembly steps are required to attach a micro-optical detection system and fluid interconnects. Keywords: microcharmel, integrated channel, micromachined channel, packed channel, electrokinetic channel, eleetrophoretic channel