Patent Grant
9901926
The invention relates in general to the field of microfluidic chips. It is in particular directed to microfluidic chips equipped with dielectrophoretic and electroosmotic circuits, e.g., wafer-based fabricated chips having electrodes extending through microstructures thereof.
Microfluidics generally refers to microfabricated devices, which are used for pumping, sampling, mixing, analyzing and dosing liquids. Prominent features thereof originate from the peculiar behavior that liquids exhibit at the micrometer length scale. Flow of liquids in microfluidics is typically laminar. Volumes well below one nanoliter can be reached by fabricating structures with lateral dimensions in the micrometer range. Reactions that are limited at large scales (by diffusion of reactants) can be accelerated. Finally, parallel streams of liquids can possibly be accurately and reproducibly controlled, allowing for chemical reactions and gradients to be made at liquid/liquid and liquid/solid interfaces. Microfluidics are accordingly used for various applications in life sciences. Microfluidic devices are commonly called microfluidic chips.
Microfluidic-based bioassays require passing a liquid sample inside a microfluidic flow path. The flow conditions (volume passing and flow rate) are important as they impact the outcome of the assay. While several methods and devices for flowing liquids inside microfluidic flow paths have been developed, these methods either lack flexibility or operate with a limited type of samples and flow conditions.
For instance, a number of microfluidic devices enabling capillary-driven flows (CDFs) have been developed. In a related field, some microfluidic devices enabling electroosmotic (EO) flows have been developed. For example, an EO microfluidic device may comprise a microchannel defined between glass walls and comprising opposite electroosmotic electrodes, provided at two ends of the microchannel, see e.g., “A Planar Electroosmotic Micropump” Chen, C and Santiago, J. G., J. Microelectromechanical Systems, 2002, 11, 672-683. In such a device, glass acquires a negative surface charge upon contact with an aqueous solution (resulting in electric double layer). In the EO flow, mobile ions in the diffuse counter-ion layer of the electric double layer are driven by an externally applied electrical field. These moving ions drag along bulk liquid through viscous force interaction.
Besides, the fabrication of microfluidic chips using semiconductor wafers such as Si wafers seems attractive: one may expect to benefit from a range of existing processes, as continuously developed in the past decades for integrated circuits, to obtain accurate microfluidic structures. However, contrary to what is done in semiconductor wafer processing, microfluidics generally have deep structures, i.e., around a few micrometer, up to 20 micrometers or even deeper. In many cases, 5 micrometers is already considered as a small depth in microfluidic applications because such a small depth can generate a large hydraulic resistance on a liquid and can block or become clogged with microbeads and particles, such a small depth can also be incompatible with samples containing cells. As a result, existing semiconductor wafer processes are challenged by, if not incompatible with the requirements needed for microfluidic chip fabrication both in terms of manufacturing processes and cost of fabrication.
In many microfluidic applications, metallic patterns are desirable, e.g., for performing electrochemistry and electro-based detection of analytes, for electrical separation of analytes, or for moving liquids using electro-osmotic flow (EOF), performing dielectrophoresis (DEP), etc. Thick resists (e.g. SU-8) are sometimes used to directly form sidewalls of deep structures.
According to a first aspect, the present invention is embodied as a microfluidic chip comprising:
Preferably, the DEP circuit further comprises a DEP signal generator coupled in the DEP circuit to provide an AC signal to the DEP electrodes and configured to enable modulation of an amplitude and/or a frequency of the AC signal, such that the DEP force can be modulated.
In embodiments, the microfluidic chip comprises a further electrical circuit, hereafter EO circuit, comprising at least one pair of electroosmotic electrodes, hereafter EO electrodes, that extend, each, transverse to the flow path, wherein: said at least one pair of DEP electrodes and said at least one pair of EO electrodes are at distinct locations in the flow path; and the EO circuit is configured to generate an electroosmotic force, hereafter EO force, the EO circuit preferably comprising an EO signal generator coupled in the EO circuit to provide an AC signal to the EO electrode and configured to enable modulation of an amplitude and/or a frequency of the AC signal, such that the EO force can be modulated.
In preferred embodiments, the chip comprises a microfluidic microchannel, at least one inner wall of the microchannel defining said hydrophilic surface, preferably comprising SiO2.
Preferably, the microchannel is in fluid communication with a passive capillary pump, structured to capillary-drive a flow of water in the hydrophilic flow path, the liquid input being preferably in fluid communication with a liquid loading pad, opposite to the capillary pump with respect to the microchannel, and wherein, preferably, the chip further comprises a cover sealing at least the microfluidic microchannel and the capillary pump.
In embodiments, a transverse section of the microchannel substantially differs at the level of one or more pairs of DEP electrodes of a DEP circuit of the chip compared to an average transverse section of the microchannel, and preferably this transverse section is between 1.5 and 4 times, more preferably between 2 and 3 times larger or smaller than the average section of the microchannel.
Preferably, a surface of at least one, and preferably of each, electrode extending transverse to the flow path and exposed to fluid in the flow path, is level with a surrounding surface in the flow path, the misalignment between the exposed electrode surface and the surrounding surface being preferably less than 20 nm, and more preferably less than 10 nm.
In preferred embodiments, electrodes of one or more electrical circuits of the chip form a repeating pattern of pairs of contiguous electrodes, the electrodes of said pairs of contiguous electrodes being different, preferably having different dimensions and more preferably made, each, essentially of aluminum.
Preferably, the chip further comprises at least one additional electrical circuit, hereafter control circuit, having at least one pair of control electrodes extending in the flow path, and further configured to detect a change in an electrochemical or a physical property of a liquid flowing at the level of said pair of control electrodes, said control circuits preferably coupled to provide inputs to the EO circuit, and more preferably to the DEP circuit as well.
In embodiments, at least one pair of DEP electrodes of a DEP circuit of the chip is closer to the liquid input than at least one pair of EO electrodes of a EO circuit of the chip, and wherein, preferably, every pair of DEP electrodes is closer to the liquid input than any pair of EO electrodes.
Preferably, said EO circuit is a first EO circuit comprising at least a first pair of EO electrodes, and the chip further comprises an additional EO circuit comprising at least a second pair of EO electrodes that extend, each, transverse to the flow path, said first pair of EO electrodes and said second pair of EO electrodes being configured to generate opposite EO forces, and wherein, preferably, at least one pair of DEP electrodes is between said first pair of EO electrodes of said first EO circuit and said second pair of said second EO circuit.
In preferred embodiments, the chip comprises a passive capillary pump in fluid communication with the flow path, and an EO circuit of the chip comprises one or more pair of EO electrodes extending, each, in the capillary pump.
Preferably, the chip comprises a microfluidic microchannel, defining said hydrophilic flow path, and being in fluid communication with a liquid loading pad at one end and with a capillary pump at another end, wherein the chip further comprises a dry-film cover sealing the microfluidic microchannel and the capillary pump, an air vent being preferably provided in fluid communication with the capillary pump.
In embodiments, the chip comprises a microfluidic microchannel, defining said hydrophilic flow path, said microchannel further exhibiting lateral slanted walls, at least one, preferably each, of the electrodes of the DEP circuit and/or an EO circuit of the chip being a multiwall electrode, extending at least partly across the hydrophilic surface and one or each of said slanted walls, level with a surrounding surface.
According to another aspect, the invention is embodied as a method of operating a microfluidic chip according to any one of the above embodiments, wherein the method comprises:
Devices and methods embodying the present invention will now be described, by way of non-limiting examples, and in reference to the accompanying drawings. Technical features depicted in the drawings are not to scale.
The following description is structured as follows. First, some difficulties that present inventors observed with conventional methods are discussed. General embodiments of the proposed solution, emphasizing prominent features of this invention, and high-level variants are then described (sect. 2). The next section addresses fabrication methods, specific embodiments and technical implementation details (sect. 3).
A number of microfluidic devices enabling capillary-driven flows (CDFs) have been developed. But such devices usually have one or more of the following drawbacks:
Present inventors have considered and studied known EO/DEP devices and concluded that such devices usually have the following drawbacks:
They have therefore explored new directions, both in terms of fabrication and designs, notably allowing for more flexibility and operating with more diverse types of samples and flow conditions. Embodiments of the invention discussed herein solve one or more of the above issues.
In reference to
Remarkably, each of the DEP electrodes extends transverse to the flow path, which is defined by a hydrophilic surface, contrary to conventional DEP devices. The DEP circuit is generally configured to generate a dielectrophoretic force (or DEP force), at the level of the DEP electrodes E21, E22.
The flow path 22 is preferably capillary-driven, thanks to a capillary pump (which can be regarded as a flow path too) provided in fluid communication with the flow path, resulting in a capillary driven flow (hereafter CDF). Since the flow path is hydrophilic, a liquid fed into the flow path shall anyway wet the hydrophilic surface and advance in the flow path. The flow path is preferably provided in a closable microchannel 20, e.g., grooved in or structured on top of a surface of the chip, as discussed later. Note that the flow path is “hydrophilic” inasmuch as it is defined by (at least) one hydrophilic surface. The flow path may nevertheless be defined by several surfaces, but not all these surfaces need to be hydrophilic. Hydrophilicity of the flow path can be achieved by a combination of hydrophilic and hydrophobic surfaces or by having surfaces with various hydrophilic characteristics.
The liquid input may for instance be a liquid loading pad 24, configured for loading liquid sample into the flow path, but could also be a microchannel, e.g., itself in communication with a liquid loading pad or another flow path, or any kind of liquid inlet (preferably a compact inlet).
Importantly, electrodes E21, E22 are provided in the flow path and extend, each, transverse to the main direction of the flow path, in contrast with known devices. The idea is to use DEP concurrently with CDF, to be able to trap particles p, e.g., functionalized microbeads suspended in liquid e.g., water while filling the flow path. The DEP force must thus be sufficient to trap the particles. Meanwhile, CDF helps with initial filling of the chip, even if no or few electrodes are wetted.
Note that electrode may not fully extend transversely through the channel 20. First this is not needed in all application (though preferred in some cases). Second, it may be desirable to leave a bit of space in the channel without electrode for detection purposes, e.g., optical fluorescence detection.
Referring now to
A DC signal can in principle be used but the voltage required is so high that it makes it difficult for microfluidic applications, as present inventors concluded from various tests. The literature suggests that DC can be used. However, above 3V DC, bubble generation electrolysis or electrochemistry effects can be expected, depending on the electrode material, liquid, and the gap between the electrodes used. On the other hand, in AC DEP, the potential can easily be increased up to 20 Volts peak-to-peak (or Vpp). Therefore, an AC signal is much preferred. The signal generator makes it possible to adapt the DEP force necessary for trapping various types of particles, e.g., microbeads about the electrodes E21, E22. A polarizable particle exposed to a non-uniform AC electric field experiences dielectrophoresis: the particle becomes polarized and is subjected to an electric force. A microbead in a liquid can be moved in a microfluidic channel using DEP. The microbead migrates in the electric field and rests in a field gradient minima or maxima. Therefore, beads p carrying receptors for analytes can be added to a sample and trapped in a microchannel (see e.g.,
Optimal ranges for the amplitude/frequency primarily depend on the liquid/particle properties and electrode geometry. Inventors observed a DEP effect when using typically 5 Vpp to 20 Vpp voltage amplitudes and 100 kHz to 10 MHz frequencies. More specifically, 10-15 Vpp at 0.5-2 MHz was usually found to be most satisfactory, giving best results notably for applications such as evoked in the next section.
Now, for some repetitive or -predefined applications, a fixed amplitude/frequency signal could be relied upon, without it being necessary to modulate the signal, such that no amplitude/frequency modulation would be needed in that case. Instead, a circuit generating a signal having predefined, non-modifiable characteristics would suffice.
Referring now to
An EO circuit preferably comprises an EO signal generator 74, coupled to provide an AC signal to the EO electrode E41, E42. The EO signal generator 74 is generally configured to enable modulation 74c of an amplitude and/or a frequency of the AC signal provided to EO electrodes, such that the EO force can be modulated too.
By “signal generator” (also called function generator, waveform generator, or frequency generator), it is meant any device capable of generating a signal and configured to enable modulation of the amplitude and/or the frequency of the AC signal. Most common waveforms, such as a sine wave, sawtooth, step (pulse), square, or triangular waveform can be used.
Just like for DEP electrodes, EO electrodes are preferably interdigitated, as illustrated in the appended drawings: opposite combs connect opposite electrodes such as to form EO electrode pairs. Interdigitated geometry of opposing electrodes has advantages in terms of compactness, and fabrication process. Since AC current is preferably used, one EO electrode of one pair, connected via one comb, becomes positive, while the other electrode of the same pair (yet connected to an opposite comb) becomes negative, and this periodically switches.
The amplitude (which impacts the voltage of the AC signal applied to electrodes) and/or the frequency of the AC signal can be changed to modulate the EO force. Other EOF generation techniques, such as travelling-wave EOF, may require phase modulation as well; however, this technique requires higher number of electrical contacts and metal layers compared to AC EOF. Additional phase modulation is therefore not preferred, though not excluded. A sufficient EO force (or EOF) should be achieved, such as to be able to alter a flow of liquid e.g., comprising water or anyhow able to wet a hydrophilic surface in the hydrophilic flow path, e.g., while being capillary driven therein. The idea here is to use the EOF to modulate the CDF (which typically remains the main liquid driving force, still helping with initial filling of the chip), concurrently with the DEP force, such that a better tuning of the DEP trapping can be obtained. Thanks to the DEP circuit, particles typically—but not necessarily—align along inner peripheries of pairs of DEP electrodes. Thanks to the EO circuit, the EO force will result in an EOF flow, ions will show a propensity to go in one or the other direction in the flow path.
An additional advantage of such a device is that, since EO is used in addition to CDF, EO may or may not be activated. Thus, if adverse electrochemistry is expected, EO electrodes may simply not be energized. In this respect, control electrodes may be provided too, as to be discussed later.
Using AC modulation, one can operate DEP and EOF simultaneously; both sets of electrodes can be controlled at the same time. Frequencies used for the respective circuits typically differ by orders of magnitude e.g., at 1 kHz and 1 Mhz, respectively. Thus, the DEP and EO circuits are designed to provide signals that markedly differ: a circuit configured for DEP and in particular a DEP signal generator may not necessarily be adapted for EOF, and conversely. Typical amplitude/frequency ranges for each circuit are the following:
Again, A DC signal could in principle be used for the EO circuit too but this is undesired in the present context, as present inventors concluded, for similar reasons as for DEP.
EO and DEP electrodes are preferably different (dimension, shape: asymmetric vs. symmetric, material, . . . ) and optimized to best fulfill their respective purposes. In the present case, for instance, using asymmetric EO electrodes and an AC field, EOF can be made unidirectional, whereas symmetric electrode pairs are best suited for DEP (though asymmetric electrodes may work for DEP too even if suboptimal), as illustrated in
Two EO circuits 64f, 64b are preferably provided, to be able to modulate the CDF in both directions, as illustrated in
The DEP and EO electrical circuits are at least partly independent. However, the ground electrode may be common for both circuits. Not only this saves space on the chip but also it reduces the number of electrical contact pads 54, if needed. In this respect, it should be borne in mind that in the present context contact pads may occupy as much as 43% of the chip area.
More generally, optimization is desired inasmuch as it directly reduces manufacturing costs. Also, note that the chip may comprise several flow paths in parallel, similarly configured and with similar arrangements of electrodes (of any type: DEP, EO or control electrodes, as discussed later).
For completeness, the connection of electrodes to contact pads 54 may have some importance as it can substantially impacts the cost of chips. In this regard, the microfluidic chip may advantageously comprise electrical contacts mating with a socket. The contacts have preferably 500 μm width and 300 μm spacing, i.e. 800 μm pitch. The socket should preferably allow mechanical alignment of less than 200 μm to avoid short-circuits and wrong connections. As an example, HSEC8 type of edge connector from SAMTEC has 800 μm-pitch contacts and allows precise chip to socket alignment. For this socket, 4.5 mm long contact area is used for reliable electrical connection. Chips can be designed to have final width of 100 μm (50 μm from each side less than the socket opening to allow easy placement without giving damage to the socket or the chip). Variations in the chip dimensions during chip dicing are expected to be within 50 μm. The contacts are placed on one side of the chip, preferably away from the loading pad (opposite side for instance). The number of contacts can be increased by repetition (constant pitch) as long as the chip dimension allows. The number of contacts can be decreased by sharing the ground electrode of DEP and EO electrode sets. If the number of required contacts is less than the maximum number of contacts that the side of the chip can accommodate, then the unused contact areas can be used for microfluidic structures. Moreover, the same socket allows electrical connection to the backside of the chip in case a conductor or semiconductor, e.g. silicon, substrate is used and substrate biasing is required.
Referring now more particularly to
Some of these fabrication methods allow for obtaining flush electrode surfaces. Namely, the surface of an electrode 50 (which could be any DEP, EO or control electrode) extending transverse to the flow path 22, that is exposed to fluid (in operation), can be fabricated such as to be level with a surrounding surface in the flow path. In other words, electrodes preferably are arranged in the channel 22 such as to be integrated within a superficial thickness of surfaces of the channel that define the flow path 22, the exposed surfaces of electrodes being flush with the surrounding surface 30, see
The SEM image shown in
Referring now to
The use of passive capillary pumps allows for creating a more compact, autonomous and efficient system. Preferably, no active pumping (forced liquid injection, extraction by liquid pumping or centrifugation) is present beyond the EO means, to achieve a more compact surface. In addition, the microfluidic chip does preferably not comprise any liquid connection to external devices e.g., via tubing ports, but rather is provided with just a liquid loading pad 24. For similar compactness reason, the chip does preferably not comprise any tank thereon.
Note that one or more pairs of EO electrodes could be placed in a capillary pump (not shown). Since a capillary pumps is larger than a microchannel, long electrodes running across the pumps may be more efficient for EOF generation, though more challenging to pattern. In variants, all EO electrodes could be provided in capillary pump segments, inserted in-channel or at an end of a channel 20 (not shown). In this regard, the chip may further comprise several capillary pumps arranged along the flow path, as shown in
An intermediate capillary pump facilitates the addition of two different liquids: since many liquids are detrimental to EO flow due to adverse corrosion of EO electrodes or due to the generation of gas bubbles, a user may want to screen EO electrodes with an EO-compatible liquid. EO-compatible liquids are for example liquids used in standard capillary electrophoresis. In this case, the EO-compatible liquid is added first followed by the addition of a liquid of interest (i.e. containing analytes, reagents and/or beads). However, microchannels in microfluidics typically have volumes of a few nanoliters up to a few hundred of nanoliters. Therefore, in absence of intermediate capillary pump, one may need to add not more than nanoliter volumes of an EO-compatible liquid (the first liquid) before adding a sample to the loading pad. Pipetting nanoliter volumes of liquids into microfluidics without the help of expensive peripherals is often impractical and not precise. An intermediate capillary pump is therefore advantageous because it adds a volume to the flow path that is significant enough (e.g., from 200 nanoliters up to a few microliters) to make the addition of liquid to the loading pad of the microfluidic chip easy and practical.
The chip may further comprise a cover 82 sealing microstructures of the chip, e.g., the microchannel 20 and the capillary pump 34, as seen in
Referring now more specifically to
In more detail, varying the width of the microchannel in the DEP electrode area locally changes the velocity of the liquid and therefore the hydrostatic pressure exerted on the particles (e.g., beads). Since the diameter of the beads affects directly the DEP force and liquid pressure on the beads, it is then possible to separate beads having different diameters. In a narrower channel, large beads will be trapped and small beads flushed. This opens the way to multiplexing and/or detecting a positive control and a signal control on at least two types of beads. Similarly, several channel section variations can be contemplated to discriminate several types of particles.
For completeness: the DEP force increases with the 3rd power of the bead radius. If one wants to trap beads that are 5, 4, 3 and 2 μm in radius, the DEP force will be respectively 125×, 64×, 27× and 8× compared to a 1 μm reference diameter. Therefore, one also needs to increase the channel width for trapping smaller beads so that the pressure of the liquid pushing the bead can scale down and not compromise the DEP force. A logical implementation is thus to provide a narrower region (for trapping large beads) upstream a larger region (for trapping smaller beads and remaining large beads, if any). Varying the transverse section 20r of the microchannel by a factor 2 shall already work in many cases. A factor of 3 is preferred inasmuch as it still allows for reasonably wide channels. More generally, this transverse section is typically between 1.5 and 4 times, more preferably between 2 and 3 times larger or smaller than the average section of the microchannel.
Several DEP circuits may accordingly be provided e.g., one per channel section variation, as illustrated in
Referring now to
In
From values in Table I, one can infer preferred geometrical constraints. Namely: L∈[10, 40]; G∈[5, 10], S∈[5, 10], preferably S=G and L=n S, with n∈[2, 4], and P∈[50, 100], preferably P=10×G (all in μm). Additional specifications for the configurations of
The above set of specifications was found most convenient for all tested applications.
In reference to
The circuit 66, 76 represented in
An electrochemical control circuit 68, 78 (terminated by control electrodes 68) may be provided too (in addition to or instead of a physical control circuit), as seen in
The control electrodes and their respective circuits may be used to check for the arrival of a liquid and in particular if this liquid could compromise the EO/DEP electrodes. A minimal distance between a pair of control electrodes and a pair of EO/DEP electrodes could be imposed, to prevent ions of a liquid from reaching any one of the EO/DEP electrodes by passive diffusion.
In the embodiment of
Note that it is possible to have all electrodes drawn on the same mask layout and patterned at the same time through the same fabrication steps.
Several combinations of the features described above may be contemplated. Such features may furthermore be combined with other features illustrated in the appended drawings. For example, referring to
At present, possible configurations of the electrodes in the channel 20 are described. Referring to
Next, according to another aspect, the invention can be embodied as methods of operation of a microfluidic chip according to embodiments as described above. One such method is illustrated in the flowchart of
The above method shall typically be completed by observing and or detecting particles trapped at the DEP electrodes (step S55), e.g., by acquisition of a fluorescence signal.
Step S40 is preferably carried out thanks to a DEP signal generator coupled in the DEP circuit to provide a DEP AC signal to the DEP electrodes, by modulating S45 an amplitude and/or a frequency of the DEP AC signal to modulate the DEP force as necessary to trap S50 particles (and e.g., to distribute particles among DEP electrodes).
As illustrated in
As further seen in
An example of flow control (event sequence) follows:
In the above sequence, DEP is switched on (S40) concomitantly with steps 4-5 to ensure trapping of beads (S50). DEP modulation (S45) is performed, notably to briefly release the beads to let them explore the sample volume efficiently on a short distance before trapping them back.
In another example of application, a microfluidic chip system (comprising both DEP and EO circuits) may further comprise an image capture element (e.g., an image sensor array) at a set location along a microchannel. The image capture element can be located parallel to the microchannel and aligned to capture images of a liquid flowing through it. This image capture element is further connected to an electronic circuit, the latter comprising an image processing device and a feedback loop. The image processing device, i.e., comprising both hardware and software components, is configured to identify stages of the fluid flow or particle location. The microfluidic chip system otherwise comprise voltage determination elements, coupled to determine voltage settings of the electrodes, at various locations along the microfluidic channel or channels. The feedback loop serves to control the voltage of the electrodes according to output from image processing and voltage determination elements.
The above embodiments have been succinctly described in reference to the accompanying drawings and may accommodate a number of variants. Several combinations of the above features may be contemplated. Examples are given in the next section.
The substrate can be silicon or glass. Electrodes are patterned on the substrate, e.g., Al (50 nm). Channel patterning is carried out via exposed and developed SU-8 (or dry-film photoresist). The cover can be PDMS, laminate, plastic, etc. The SU-8 is initially hydrophobic, therefore a surface treatment is required, e.g., a 2-3 s cold plasma activation of SU-8 and Si/SiOx chip for achieving hydrophilic surfaces. Such a fabrication provides relatively low resolution and requires quite demanding photolithography steps to eliminate cracks and delamination. A dry-film resist is easier to process and can be initially hydrophilic, i.e. no need for plasma activation. A similar type of dry-film resist can be used to cover the microfluidic structures. Vias (loading pad and air vents) can be on the cover or silicon.
An example of specifications reflecting the embodiment of
Alternatively, the substrate can be silicon, the cover can be glass and electrodes can be patterned on the cover. Channels are in that case obtained by etching and passivating silicon. More in detail, such an approach requires dry-etching for channels and the vias (long etching process). Electrodes cannot be patterned inside the channels in that case due to vertical sidewall profile. Instead, electrodes are bonded to the cover by way of fusion bonding, which process is rather difficult to optimize.
As present inventors have realized, the use of thick resists for fabricating microfluidic channels, e.g., for obtaining lateral walls of microchannels, is inconvenient, notably due to their limited temperature and chemical stability. It is furthermore difficult to tailor the surface chemistry of these resists (e.g. for controlling wetting, or the adhesion of biomolecules and cells). In addition, processing thick resists requires using more resist, longer backing, exposure and development steps, and also sometimes requires multiple spin coating steps. The mechanical properties and internal stress of such resists can also be an issue during microfluidic chip fabrication and utilization.
Besides, it is another challenge to pattern metals in and/or across structures having depths around or in excess of 5 micrometers due to (1) the inhomogeneity in thickness of resists (used as sacrificial layers for lift-off) that are deposited across deep structures and (2) the difficulty of patterning metals using lift-off techniques, especially in channels having vertical sidewalls. Inventors concluded to the need for improved methods of fabrication of microfluidic chips, allowing for satisfactorily patterning electrodes (or more generally electrically conductive patterns) thereon, even in and/or across structures having depths around or in excess of 5 micrometers.
General aspects of fabrication methods they devised follow.
In their most general definitions, such methods consider, as a starting point, a structured substrate (e.g., a Si wafer) having a face F covered by an electrically insulating layer (e.g., SiO2). How to obtain such a substrate is the subject of preliminary steps S1-S7, which are discussed below. Several methods for obtaining a structured substrate covered by an electrically insulating layer are otherwise known in the art.
First, a resist layer is obtained, which layer covers one or more selected portions P1 of the electrically insulating layer. Accordingly, there will be at least a remaining portion P2 of the electrically insulating layer that is not covered by the resist layer. The selected portion(s) P1 may be given various possible shapes, resulting in complementary shapes for portion(s) P2, as desired for the electrically conductive layer to be deposited next.
The next step is key: it comprises partially etching a surface of the remaining portion(s) P2 of the electrically insulating layer with a wet etchant E, in order to create a recess and/or an undercut under the resist layer, i.e., at an interface (or border) between the resist and layer.
Then, an electrically conductive layer is deposited on the etched surface. The deposition of the layer is such that the electrically conductive layer reaches the created recess and/or undercut (i.e., without substantially filling the recess/undercut).
Finally, the resist layer can be removed (lift-off), in order to expose a portion P1 of the electrically insulating layer adjoining a contiguous portion P2 of the electrically conductive layer.
By construction, the recess and/or undercut is located at the level of an interface, i.e., a frontier between the electrically insulating layer and the resist layer. This recess and/or undercut furthermore extend along a periphery, or a border of the remaining portion P2. Present inventors realized that such a recess and/or undercut is key for obtaining neat frontiers between the insulating and conductor layers.
In fact, an explanation is that recesses/undercuts substantially lower the risk of defects at the frontier between the conductive and insulator layers, which then enable an easier lift-off (continuous metal film deposition over the resist is prevented), and in turn allows for nicely flush surfaces to be obtained. Importantly, there is no need for a double-layer resist as usually done in the art.
An example of a detailed fabrication method is the following:
After step 11. above, the wafer can be placed on a supporting tape for dicing, the front-side can be protected by a photoresist layer or a tape. At this point, microstructures can still be rinsed, cleaned and dried.
The microfluidic chip can subsequently be covered. In preferred variants, a cover-film is applied to cover the microfluidic structures and possibly complete them (e.g., close channels 20), before dicing.
The cover-film may be applied to cover several chips fabricated in parallel on a same wafer, which is advantageous for large scale fabrication. The cover film 82 is thus applied at substrate-level, after cleaning, and before singulation in that case. The cover film 82 must therefore be distinguished from a protective (photoresist) film that can otherwise be applied before dicing. Indeed, protective films are usually applied before dicing to protect a processed wafer. Since here the cover film 82 is applied after cleaning (e.g., after having rinsed, cleaned and dried the partially cut substrate), clean microfluidic structures are obtained for the whole assembly, i.e., at substrate level, a thing that usually is only carried out at chip level. Once the exposed surface is sealed with the cover film 82, the assembly can be singulated and the resulting dies can be readily used.
Several materials can be contemplated for the cover-film: Of particular interest are dry-film resists (usually optically clear), such as polyepoxide films, which have been found to be best suited for several applications. They notably are rigid enough to tent over the channels 20 without collapsing. They can be easily diced and have good adhesion to the surface to prevent delamination and leaking. Most practical is to use a cover film initially provided as a laminate sheet to apply it on the surface of the substrate. In variants, any rigid enough cover film can be contemplated, like silicon or thin glass (its Young's modulus is typically between 4 and 200 gigapascal). If an optical clear material is required, glass can be used.
According to many test performed by the inventors, best results are obtained if the thickness of the dry-film resist 62 applied is between 10 and 100 μm. Satisfactory results were obtained with 14 μm thick films but optimal results were obtained for thicknesses of about 50 μm (±20 μm), the film itself shall preferably exhibit less than 5% thickness variation.
Sealing is critical for applications that require preventing evaporation and crosstalk of liquids/samples/reagents across different microfluidic structures. Elastosmers such as PDMS were found to contaminate the microfluidic structures, making them hydrophobic due to the surface diffusion of low molecular weight siloxanes. While chips covered with PDMS were useful for experiments and developing the technology, these chips may not have a sufficiently long shelf lifetime stability for optimal logistics that is needed in diagnostics. When optical transparency, chemical stability, low auto-fluorescence in specific optical regions used for fluorescence assays, conformability with surfaces, mechanical strength, water and air non-permeability become critical requirements, then dry-film resists are better suited, being particularly adapted to the sealing of microfluidic structures as fabricated here.
Additional technical details follow which concern concrete examples of fabrication and application.
The chip measures 23×9.3 mm2 and comprises a loading pad, a microchannel with embedded electrodes, a capillary pump, air vents, a cover film and electrical contacts mating with a card-edge socket. Silicon substrate is used to leverage the micromachining processes as well as the favorable properties of Si and SiO2, such as channel etching with tapered sidewall profile, hydrophilicity of SiO2 for capillary filling, thermal and chemical stability, mechanical robustness, compatibility of SiO2 surface with many biomolecules, and well defined and reliable chemical composition.
In the fabrication process, channels are anisotropically etched in silicon using TMAH and electrically passivated by thermal oxidation. The electrodes were patterned by metal evaporation and lift-off after conformal coating and patterning of a single-layer photoresist. Prior to metal deposition, a short isotropic SiO2 etching is introduced to assist lift-off and to recess the electrodes. The photolithography parameters are optimized to achieve at least a 5-μm minimum feature size in 20 μm deep trenches. Following the dicing and cleaning steps, a hydrophilic dry-film cover is laminated at 45° C. to seal the microfluidic structures. SEM inspection showed that the cover film perfectly tents over the channels and over the capillary pump. The electrodes showed minimized edge defects and very flat surface topography owing to the SiO2 recessing step.
Functionality of the above chip was demonstrated by trapping beads in a liquid filling the chip by capillarity. 10 μm diameter polystyrene beads were suspended in a 1× Tris-EDTA buffer and pipetted to the loading pad while 10 Vpp potential at 1 MHz was applied to the electrode set. The buffer solution filled the channels and pulled the beads towards the DEP trapping region. Beads were trapped on the first electrodes and distributed to the other electrodes by tuning the potential. The experiments showed autonomous flow generation and reproducible bead trapping. The combination of conformal electrode patterning and capillarity-compatible channel fabrication may extend the application areas of advanced and autonomous microfluidic chips for a range of electrokinetics phenomena without adding excessive complexity in design and fabrication.
Methods described herein can be used in the fabrication of microfluidic devices, notably wafer-based chips. The resulting chips can for instance be distributed by the fabricator in raw wafer form (that is, as a single wafer that has multiple unpackaged chips), as a bare die, or in a packaged form. In the latter case the chip is mounted in a single chip package (such as a plastic carrier) or in a multichip package. In any case the chip can then be integrated with other chips, or other microfluidic elements (tubing ports, pumps, etc.) even if applications to autonomous chips are preferred, as part of either (a) an intermediate product or (b) an end product.
While the present invention has been described with reference to a limited number of embodiments, variants and the accompanying drawings, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes may be made and equivalents may be substituted without departing from the scope of the present invention. In particular, a feature (device-like or method-like) recited in a given embodiment, variant or shown in a drawing may be combined with or replace another feature in another embodiment, variant or drawing, without departing from the scope of the present invention. Various combinations of the features described in respect of any of the above embodiments or variants may accordingly be contemplated, that remain within the scope of the appended claims. In addition, many minor modifications may be made to adapt a particular situation or material to the teachings of the present invention without departing from its scope. Therefore, it is intended that the present invention not be limited to the particular embodiments disclosed, but that the present invention will include all embodiments falling within the scope of the appended claims. In addition, many other variants than explicitly touched above can be contemplated. For example, other materials could be used for the resist 40 and for the cover-film 82. Also, many variants can be contemplated for the applied AC signals. For instance, pulsed DEP may be used: the DEP force may be pulsed by modulating the DEP AC signal at a much lower frequency (e.g., <10 Hz) than the ˜10 MHz DEP signal, e.g., switching it on/off (with a 50% duty-cycle square wave). This provide time-varying DEP forces, a thing that is useful to compete with drag forces, under which particles can be pushed forward or oscillated between two positions.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1311679.3 | Jun 2013 | GB | national |
| Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| PCT/IB2014/062345 | 6/18/2014 | WO | 00 |
| Publishing Document | Publishing Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| WO2014/207618 | 12/31/2014 | WO | A |
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