Method of continuously separating mixtures of microscopic dielectric particles and apparatus for carrying through this method
First Claim
1. Method of continuously separating mixtures of microscopic dielectric particles suspended in a liquid or a gel, comprising the steps of:
- (a)(1) continuously forcing the particles to move on guide paths by applying electric high-frequency alternating fields as a guiding field, which present maxima and minima at microscopic spacings, and(a)(2) feeding certain particle species out from said guide path by applying at least one additional field of forces acting upon said particles and having a component orthogonal to said guide paths and with compensation of the forces enforcing the motion of said certain particle species on said guide paths;
or(b)(1) forcing the particles onto guide paths by causing a suspension medium of the particles to flow in a presettable flow in a presettable direction, and(b)(2) feeding certain particle species out from said flow by applying at least one dielectrophoretic high-frequency field acting upon said particles, with compensation of the force acting upon said particles as a result of said flow.
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Abstract
A method of separating mixtures of microscopic dielectric particles in sunsions in an apparatus for carrying the method. A mixture of particles is forced onto guide paths by dielectrophoretic forces or by a flow of the suspension medium with an additional force, which is provided to compensate the force causing the particles to move along the guide paths for specific particle species causing the specific particle species to be fed out from the mixture of particles. The apparatus may be integrated on surfaces of silicon wafers at low cost and in mass-production numbers, and is suitable for isolating minute particles such as biological cells, cell organelles, bio molecules as well as organic dielectric particles.
223 Citations
23 Claims
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1. Method of continuously separating mixtures of microscopic dielectric particles suspended in a liquid or a gel, comprising the steps of:
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(a)(1) continuously forcing the particles to move on guide paths by applying electric high-frequency alternating fields as a guiding field, which present maxima and minima at microscopic spacings, and (a)(2) feeding certain particle species out from said guide path by applying at least one additional field of forces acting upon said particles and having a component orthogonal to said guide paths and with compensation of the forces enforcing the motion of said certain particle species on said guide paths;
or(b)(1) forcing the particles onto guide paths by causing a suspension medium of the particles to flow in a presettable flow in a presettable direction, and (b)(2) feeding certain particle species out from said flow by applying at least one dielectrophoretic high-frequency field acting upon said particles, with compensation of the force acting upon said particles as a result of said flow. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5)
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6. An apparatus for continuously separating mixtures of microscopic dielectric particles suspended in a liquid or gel, comprising:
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(a)(1) means for continuously forcing the particles to move on guide paths including means for applying electric high-frequency alternating fields as a guiding field, which present maxima and minima at microscopic spacings, and (a)(2) means for feeding certain particles species out from the guide path by applying at least one additional field of forces acting upon the particles and having a component orthogonal to the guide paths and with compensation of the forces enforcing the motion of the certain particle species on the guide paths;
or(b)(1) means for forcing the particles onto guide paths by causing a suspension medium of the particles to flow in a presettable direction, and (b)(2) means for feeding certain particle species out from the flow including means for applying at least one dielectrophoretic high-frequency field acting upon the particles with compensation of the force acting upon the particles as a result of the flow. - View Dependent Claims (7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23)
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Specification