Fabrication of high-quality glass microfluidic devices for bioanalytical and space flight applications

Abstract

Microfabricated glass microfluidic and Capillary Electrophoresis (CE) devices have been utilized in a wide variety of applications over the past thirty years. At the Berkeley Space Sciences Laboratory, we are working to further expand this technology by developing analytical instruments to chemically explore our solar system. This effort requires improving the quality and reliability of glass microfabrication through quality control procedures at every stage of design and manufacture. This manuscript provides detailed information on microfabrication technology for the production of high-quality glass microfluidic chips in compliance with industrial standards and space flight instrumentation quality control. • The methodological protocol provided in this paper includes the scope of each step of the manufacturing process, materials and technologies recommended and the specific challenges that often confront the process developer. • Types and sources of fabrication error at every stage have been identified and their solutions have been proposed and verified. • We present robust and rigorous manufacturing and quality control procedures that will assist other researchers in achieving the highest possible quality glass microdevices using the latest apparatus in a routine and reliable fashion.

Keywords

• Capillary electrophoresis
• Glass microfabrication
• Lab-on-a-chip
• Astrobiology
• Biosignature detection