Abstract

Rapid prototyping of polymer nanofluidic lab on chip devices for DNA manipulation and large scale sequencing

Jeroen A. van Kan, Professor, National University of Singapore

An easy replication method is introduced for nanofluidic lab-on-chip device production down to 60 nm in PDMS. High quality masters are obtained through proton beam writing (PBW) and UV lithography. These masters can be used many times to replicate nanofluidic devices capable of handling single DNA molecules. Using fluorescence microscopy the extensions of DNA molecules has been observed inside these PDMS nano-channels. A novel mold design will be presented which allows the manipulation of DNA molecules inside PDMS nanochannels. PBW is an ideal technique to fabricate LOC devices with features from micron to nanoscale. In PBW a focused MeV proton beam is scanned in a predetermined pattern over a resist, which is subsequently chemically developed. Due to the absence of proximity effects and even energy deposition along the straight path of the proton beam, smooth sidewalls can be achieved. The high penetration depth of the proton beam enables the production of high aspect ratio, high density 3D nanostructures with smooth sidewalls, ideal for high quality mold production for nano-imprint-lithography (NIL) applications. Recently PBW has demonstrated a focus down to 9.3 x 32 nm2, revolutionizing applications of MeV proton beams as well as lithography down to 19 nm in HSQ. This improved performance opens up new ways of mold production for NIL applications. To achieve polymer nanofluidic circuits down to 19 nm PWB fabricated HSQ resist structures will be replicated in OrmoStampTM to form hard stamps which can be used in thermal NIL to create PMMA LOC devices.