Recently, Jim has purchased a Makerbot 2x printer for our group. I’ve spent the last few weeks printing and debugging. It has the capability to print many different types of material, along with 2 separate nozzles. I have been able to get many fine prints done with ABS plastic, and I’ve put together a basic…
We’ve been moving to a new format for chips, trying to standardize an active area that has good yield and allows fluidic access through the chip itself. The SEPCON outer dimensions have been reused (5.4 mm x 5.4 mm). It’s a 1.5 mm^2 single slot chip area (2 mm x 0.7 mm) with vias that…
I believe that we can use MgF2 nanomembranes as electroosmotic pumps, along the same lines as pnc-Si and NPN materials. To first get a sense of how much pumping I would expect, I wanted to know what the zeta potential of these membranes would be, as the potential is directly proportional to the amount of…
I have been developing a microsystem for Paul Dunman’s group that will allow them to flow in bacteria, immobilize them on antibodies, and then subject them to varying concentrations of antibiotics. The full system will incorporate a fluidic mixer and a NPN membrane as a way to introduce the antibiotic I have been working with…
Kevin was kind enough to share his presentation with us from his visit this July: Here is the link on Owncloud: http://drive.bbe.23a.myftpupload.com/public.php?service=files&t=c3eceae62439a478b4d1b676924e45ee
Last week, I worked with Kevin to create a prototype cell culture device that could be compatible with his Raman system in Nottingham. The space constraints of the physical system are challenging: The overall working distance of the system must be less than 1.5 mm (smaller is better), must maintain only MgF2, media, and cells…
In my last post, I described a new process for reducing fluoropolymer build up during RIE. Unfortunately, the new process had substantially lower yields (half) than the process I was using before. In this post, I am detailing my attempts to make the MgF2 nanomembranes stronger to try and improve the yield of my current etching…
I have a preliminary result from Kevin that there is a layer of fluoropolymer remaining on my MgF2 freestanding nanomembranes (which could explain some of the carbon signal in EDX from my previous posts). This would create another unnecessary signal for the intended Raman spectroscopy application. Remembering an old graph from my schooling, I dropped…
Glavan et al 2013 Lab on a Chip This paper from the Whitesides group details an interesting way to fabricate paper-based microfluidics. They treat ordinary paper with a fluorinated silanization process to render it hydrophobic, and use a Silhouette cutter to scratch a channel into the paper. When covered with double-sided scotch tape, conduits are…
This week, I tried to make a large number of MgF2 nanomembranes for my collaboration with Kevin Webb. I wanted to keep the evaporated surface as pristine as possible, so instead of using the Kapton tape to attach the chips to the platen on its face, I used double sided kapton tape. Our reserves of…