DATASET - Integrated optical waveguides and inertial focussing microfluidics in silica for microflow cytometry applications

A platform for microflow cytometry is presented comprising monolithically integrated waveguides and deep microfluidics in a rugged silica chip. Integrated waveguides deliver excitation light to an etched microfluidic channel and also collect transmitted light. The fluidics are designed to employ inertial focusing to reduce signal variation by bringing the flowing beads onto the same plane as the excitation light beam. A fabrication process is described which exploits microelectronics mass production techniques including: sputtering, ICP etching and PECVD. Test devices were fabricated and the effectiveness of inertial focusing of 5.6 µm fluorescent beads was studied showing lateral and vertical confinement of flowing beads within the microfluidic channel. The fluorescence signals from flowing calibration beads were quantified and a basic analysis of beads used in an immunoassay for TNF? was performed. Finally the potential of this type of device for measuring the variation in optical transmission from input to output waveguide as beads flowed through the beam was evaluated. Paper published in 'Integrated optical waveguides and inertial focussing microfluidics in silica for microflow cytometry applications'

本研究提出了一款微流控流式细胞术（microflow cytometry）平台，该平台在坚固的二氧化硅芯片中集成了单片式光波导与深层微流控结构。集成光波导可将激发光传输至蚀刻成型的微流道，并同步收集透射光。该微流控系统采用惯性聚焦技术，通过使流动微球与激发光束处于同一平面，以降低信号波动。本文详述了一种依托微电子大规模生产工艺的制备流程，涵盖磁控溅射、电感耦合等离子体（ICP）刻蚀与等离子体增强化学气相沉积（PECVD）等技术。研究人员制备了测试器件，并针对5.6μm荧光微球的惯性聚焦效果开展实验，证实流动微球可在微流道内实现横向与纵向约束定位。本研究对流动校准微球产生的荧光信号进行了定量分析，并针对用于肿瘤坏死因子（TNF）免疫测定的微球开展了基础分析。最后，本研究评估了该类器件的应用潜力：当微球流经激发光束时，其可用于测量输入与输出光波导之间的光传输变化量。相关论文发表于'Integrated optical waveguides and inertial focussing microfluidics in silica for microflow cytometry applications'