A nanochannel system fabricated by MEMS microfabrication and atomic force microscopy

A silicon nanochannel system with integrated transverse electrodes was designed and fabricated by combining MEMS microfabrication and AFM nanolithography. The fabrication process began with the patterning of microscale reservoirs and electrodes on an oxidized silicon chip using conventional MEMS techniques. A nanochannel, approximately 30µm long with a small semi-circular cross-sectional area of 20nm by 200nm, was then mechanically machined on the oxide surface between the micro reservoirs by applying AFM nanolithography with an all-diamond probe. Anodic bonding was used to seal off the nanochannel with a matching Pyrex cover. Continuous flow in the nanochannel was verified by pressurizing a solution of fluorescein isothiocyanate (FITC) in ethanol through the channel in a vacuum chamber. It was further demonstrated by driving carboxyl-modified FluoSpheres® (diameter ∼ 20 nm) through the nanochannel with an external electric field. Presence of the FluoSpheres® in the channel was indicated by a sharp increase in current between the transverse electrodes.

[1]  M. Ventra,et al.  Colloquium: Physical approaches to DNA sequencing and detection , 2007, 0708.2724.

[2]  Herbert Kroemer,et al.  Direct patterning of surface quantum wells with an atomic force microscope , 1998 .

[3]  H. Sturm,et al.  Comparison between dynamic plowing lithography and nanoindentation methods , 2002 .

[4]  Jane E. Curtin,et al.  Nanochannel fabrication for chemical sensors , 1997 .

[5]  J. Sturm,et al.  Micro- and nanofluidics for DNA analysis , 2004, Analytical and bioanalytical chemistry.

[6]  Heinz Sturm,et al.  Dynamic plowing nanolithography on polymethylmethacrylate using an atomic force microscope , 2001 .

[7]  A. van den Berg,et al.  Micromachining of buried micro channels in silicon , 2000, Journal of Microelectromechanical Systems.

[8]  Gerber,et al.  Atomic Force Microscope , 2020, Definitions.

[9]  B. Klehn,et al.  Nanolithography with an atomic force microscope by means of vector-scan controlled dynamic plowing , 1999 .

[10]  C. Chou,et al.  Fabrication of Size-Controllable Nanofluidic Channels by Nanoimprinting and Its Application for DNA Stretching , 2004 .

[11]  S. Kandlikar,et al.  Review of fabrication of nanochannels for single phase liquid flow , 2006 .

[12]  J. Schloss,et al.  How to get genomes at one ten-thousandth the cost , 2008, Nature Biotechnology.

[13]  Andrew T. S. Wee,et al.  Nanoscale materials patterning and engineering by atomic force microscopy nanolithography , 2006 .

[14]  S Mohammadi,et al.  A nanofluidic channel with embedded transverse nanoelectrodes , 2009, Nanotechnology.

[15]  Hideaki Takahashi,et al.  Nanopatterning on aluminum surfaces with AFM probe , 2003 .

[16]  Miko Elwenspoek,et al.  Institute of Physics Publishing Journal of Micromechanics and Microengineering Wet Anisotropic Etching for Fluidic 1d Nanochannels , 2022 .

[17]  D. Reuter,et al.  Fabrication of quantum point contacts by engraving GaAs/AlGaAs heterostructures with a diamond tip , 2002 .

[18]  Zaili Dong,et al.  Research on the atomic force microscopy-based fabrication of nanochannels on silicon oxide surfaces , 2010 .

[19]  Henryk Temkin,et al.  Nanofluidic channels by anodic bonding of amorphous silicon to glass to study ion-accumulation and ion-depletion effect. , 2006, Talanta.

[20]  Zhiqian Wang,et al.  Nanochannels on silicon oxide surface fabricated by atomic force microscopy , 2010, 2010 IEEE 5th International Conference on Nano/Micro Engineered and Molecular Systems.

[21]  Jie-Ming Chen,et al.  Electrochemical synthesis of polypyrrole within PMMA nanochannels produced by AFM mechanical lithography , 2005 .

[22]  Robert H. Austin,et al.  Fabrication of 10 nm enclosed nanofluidic channels , 2002 .

[23]  Andre Marziali,et al.  Noise analysis and reduction in solid-state nanopores , 2007 .