Laser fabrication of micropores and their integration to microfluidic platforms for DNA electrophoresis

Abstract

The work presents an alternative method for themanufacture of micropores by using the combination oflaser ablation and wet etching. The process of laser ablationwas done on silicon (Si) wafers with silicon nitride (Si3N4)used as a sacrificial layer. The size of the pores wascarefully controlled by following an optical technique.The method exhibits a series of advantages in relationmicromachining techniques previously used. The fabricatedpores were then integrated to polydimethylsiloxane(PDMS) microchannels, which constitutes a novel setup tobe considered for microfluidic applications. Furthermore, asthe system is addressed to study the electrically-driventransport of macromolecules, deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA)electrophoresis was performed in the fabricated microsystemsto prove the principle. Also for these purposes, theelectric field throughout the microchannel and pore regionwas studied in details by using numerical simulations.