Method of fabricating a biosensor

• US 7,741,142 B2
• Filed: 11/22/2005
• Issued: 06/22/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 11/22/2005
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. (HP Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. (HP Inc.)
• Inventors: Sharma, Manish
• Primary Examiner(s): Laudau; Matthew C
• Assistant Examiner(s): Wolverton; Daren
• Application Number:
  US11/286,065
• Publication Number:
  US 20070117243A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,673 Days
• Field of Search: 438/43, 438/49, 438/701, 438/713, 438/942, 438/943, 257/253, 257/254, 257/415, 257/623, 257/E23.179, 257/E21.238, 257/E2.495, 204/403.01, 435/287.2
• US Class Current: 438/49
• CPC Class Codes: B81B 2201/06 Bio-MEMS
• CPC Class Codes: B81C 1/00063 Trenches
• CPC Class Codes: B81C 2201/0133 Wet etching
• CPC Class Codes: B81C 2201/0153 Imprinting techniques not provided for in B81C2201/0152

Abstract

The present invention provides a method of fabricating a biosensor. The method includes providing a substrate which has a surface coating. The surface coating is deformable and the substrate includes a layered structure which has at least two electrically conductive layers separated by at least one electrically insulating layer. The method also includes imprinting a structure into the surface coating. Further, the method includes etching at least a region of the imprinted structure and the substrate to remove at least a portion of the structure and the substrate. The structure is shaped so that the etching forms at least a portion of the biosensor in the substrate and exposes at least a portion of each electrically conductive layer to form electrodes of the biosensor.

Claims

1. A method of fabricating a biosensor, the method comprising:

providing a substrate with a surface coating, the surface coating being deformable and the substrate comprising a layered structure, the layered structure comprising at least two electrically conductive layers separated by at least one electrically insulating layer;

imprinting a structure into the surface coating; and

etching at least a region of the imprinted structure and the substrate to remove at least a portion of the structure and the substrate to form a projection;

wherein the structure is shaped so that the etching forms at least a portion of the biosensor in the substrate and exposes at least a portion of each electrically conductive layer to form electrodes of the biosensor.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein:

the structure is shaped so that the etching exposes at least one of the electrically conductive layers.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein:

the layered structure comprises more than two electrically conductive layers, the electrically conductive layers being separated by electrically insulating layers and spaced apart by a distance that is selected so that etching exposes at least a portion of each electrically conductive layer to form electrodes that are disposed at a predetermined distance from each other.

4. The method of claim 3 wherein:

the layered structure comprises more than 10 electrically conductive layers separated by electrically insulating layers and the etching exposes at least a portion of each electrically conductive layer.

5. The method of claim 3 wherein:

the thickness of the layers of the layered structure is selected so that the etching exposes at least a portion of each electrically conductive layer to form electrodes and adjacent electrodes are separated by a distance of less than 100 nm from each other.

6. The method of claim 5 wherein:

the adjacent electrodes are separated by a distance of less than 10 nm.

7. The method of claim 5 wherein:

the adjacent electrodes are separated by a distance of less than 5 nm.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein:

providing the substrate comprises forming the layered structure on a base material and coating an exposed layer with the deformable material.

9. The method of claim 8 wherein:

the base material is a flexible material.

10. The method of claim 8 wherein:

the base material comprises a polymeric material.

11. The method of claim 8 wherein:

the deformable surface coating comprises a polymeric material.

12. The method of claim 8 wherein:

the shape of the structure is selected so that the etching forms the biosensor in the substrate and the etching removes the entire imprinted structure.

13. The method of claim 8 wherein:

the shape of the imprinted structure is selected so that the etching forms a portion of the biosensor in the substrate and the etching removes a portion of the imprinted structure.