Microfluidic apparatus with integrated porous-substrate/sensor for real-time (BIO) chemical molecule detection

• US 8,465,698 B2
• Filed: 10/13/2011
• Issued: 06/18/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 09/12/2002
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Original Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Inventors: Yamakawa, Mineo, Heck, John, Chan, Selena, Sundararajan, Narayan
• Primary Examiner(s): Bullock, In Suk
• Assistant Examiner(s): Kingan, Timothy G
• Application Number:
  US13/272,858
• Publication Number:
  US 20120141329A1
• Time in Patent Office: 614 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 422/82.05
• CPC Class Codes: B01J 2219/00639 the compounds being trapped in or bound to a porous medium
• CPC Class Codes: B01L 2300/0636 Integrated biosensor, microarrays
• CPC Class Codes: B01L 2300/0681 Filter
• CPC Class Codes: B01L 2300/0887 Laminated structure
• CPC Class Codes: B01L 3/50255 Multi-well filtration
• CPC Class Codes: B01L 3/502715 characterised by interfacing components, e.g. fluidic, electrical, optical or mechanical interfaces
• CPC Class Codes: B01L 3/502753 characterised by bulk separation arrangements on lab-on-a-chip devices, e.g. for filtration or centrifugation separation in general B01D; microapparatus for analysis using electrophoresis G01N27/44791; sample preparation G01N1/28
• CPC Class Codes: B81B 2201/0214 Biosensors; Chemical sensors
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 137/2224 Structure of body of device

Abstract

Microfluidic apparatus including integrated porous substrate/sensors that may be used for detecting targeted biological and chemical molecules and compounds. In one aspect, upper and lower microfluidic channels are defined in respective halves of a substrate, which are sandwiched around a porous membrane upon assembly. In other aspect, the upper and lower channels are formed such that a portion of the lower channel passes beneath a portion of the upper channel to form a cross-channel area, wherein the membrane is disposed between the two channels. In various embodiments, one or more porous membranes are disposed proximate to corresponding cross-channel areas defined by one or more upper and lower channels. The porous membrane may also have sensing characteristics, such that it produces a change in an optical and/or electronic characteristic. Accordingly, the apparatus may further include instrumentation or detection equipment to measure the changes, such as optic-based detectors and electronic instrumentation.

Claims

1. An apparatus, comprising a microfluidic chip comprising a first substrate member having at least one first microfluidic channel passing through the first substrate member along a first direction;

a second substrate member having at least one second microfluidic channel, passing through the second substrate member along a second direction;

wherein a portion of the second microfluidic channel passes beneath a portion of the first microfluidic channel to form a crosschannel area; and

at least one porous membrane disposed and sandwiched between the first and second substrate members proximate to the cross-channel area to form a semi-permeable barrier between the first and second microfluidic channels, wherein the at least one porous membrane is disposed in a recess formed in either the first substrate member or the second substrate member and wherein the porous membrane comprises porous nanocrystalline silicon or porous polysilicon, wherein the porous membrane exhibits sensing characteristics causing a change in an optical characteristic of the porous membrane in response to exposure to a targeted fluid or reaction, wherein the porous membrane is integrated into the microfluidic chip.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the at least one second microfluidic channel comprises a plurality of channels, and the plurality of cross-channel areas are substantially configured in an array.

3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the at least one porous membrane comprise a plurality of porous membranes, each respectively disposed proximate to a respective cross-channel area.

4. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising respective reservoirs defined in at least one of the first and second substrate members at opposing ends of at least one of the first and second microfluidic channels.

5. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the first and second substrate members comprise one of a polydimethyl siloxane (PDMS), silicon, quartz, polymer, or polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA) substrate.

6. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the first microfluidic channel and the second microfluidic channel are functional to have liquid flow therethrough.

7. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the apparatus further comprises:

a light source to direct a light toward the porous membrane; and

a detector, to receive a portion of light reflected off of and/or emitted by the porous silicon membrane to detect the change in the optical characteristic of the porous membrane.