378 results about "Microfabrication" patented technology

A system, apparatus, and method for processing a sample for chemical and/or biological analysis, and detecting one or more target substances. A first system of microfabricated components includes at least a reservoir and a channel, and a second system of detection components including at least a lens. The lens is focused on a sensing platform of the first system. The sensing platform is coupled to the reservoir by the channel. Various types of detection systems can be utilized with the present invention including fluorescence detection systems with a laser that is positioned to illuminate a sample in the sensing platform. The microfabricated components include one or more pumps, valves, mixers, and filters. A thermoelectric cooler can be positioned to control the temperature of at least one of the microfabricated components. A variety of component configurations can be implemented, and a variety of different processes can be performed, depending on the configuration of components. The device can also be networked with other information processing devices and share data regarding substances detected from the sample.

An efficient method for the microfabrication of electronic devices which have been adapted for the analyses of biologically significant analyte species is described. The techniques of the present invention allow for close control over the dimensional features of the various components and layers established on a suitable substrate. Such control extends to those parts of the devices which incorporate the biological components which enable these devices to function as biological sensors. The materials and methods disclosed herein thus provide an effective means for the mass production of uniform wholly microfabricated biosensors. Various embodiments of the devices themselves are described herein which are especially suited for real time analyses of biological samples in a clinical setting. In particular, the present invention describes assays which can be performed using certain ligand/ligand receptor-based biosensor embodiments. The present invention also discloses a novel method for the electrochemical detection of particular analyte species of biological and physiological significance using an substrate/label signal generating pair which produces a change in the concentration of electroactive species selected from the group consisting of dioxygen and hydrogen peroxide.

A directionally-sensitive device for detecting and processing vibration waves includes an array of polymeric optical waveguide resonators positioned between a light source, such as an LED array, and a light detector, such as a photodiode array. The resonators which are preferably oriented substantially perpendicularly with respect to incoming vibration waves, vibrate when a wave is detected, thus modulating light signals that are transmitted between the light source and the light detector. The light detector converts the modulated light into electrical signals which, in a preferred embodiment, are used to drive either the speaker of a hearing aid or the electrode array of a cochlear implant. The device is manufactured using a combination of traditional semiconductor processes and polymer microfabrication techniques.

The invention provides for translating two-dimensional microfabrication technology into the third dimension. Two-dimensional templates are fabricated using high-resolution molding processes. These templates are then bonded to form three-dimensional scaffold structures with closed lumens. The scaffolds can serve as the template for cell adhesion and growth by cells that are added to the scaffolds through the vessels, holes or pores. These scaffolds can be formed by layering techniques, to interconnect flat template sheets to build up a fully vascularized organ.

Method for making three-dimensional structures. A template is provided having at least two conductive regions separated by a non-conductive region. The template is disposed in an electrolyte in an electrodeposition cell and a voltage is established between one of the conductive regions and an electrode in the cell. Material is deposited on the one of the conductive regions connected to the voltage and subsequently bridges to the other conductive region with material deposition continuing on both of the at least two regions. The non conductive region may be a gap and the gap dimension is selected to regulate height differences between the at least two conductive regions.

Method of fabricating an optical element. A photodefinable composition is provided that includes (i) a hydrophobic, photodefinable polymer, said photodefinable polymer having a glass transition temperature in the cured state of at least about 80° C.; and (ii) a multiphoton photoinitiator system comprising at least one multiphoton photosensitizer and preferably at least one phtoinitiator that is capable of being photosensitized by the photosensitizer. One or more portions of the composition are imagewise exposed to the electromagnetic energy under conditions effective to photodefinably form at least a portion of a three-dimensional optical element.

To provide a display device which can realize high performance of a field-effect transistor which forms a pixel of the display device and which can achieve improvement in an aperture ratio of a pixel, which has been reduced due to increase in the number of field-effect transistors, and reduction in the area of the field-effect transistor which occupies the pixel, without depending on a microfabrication technique of the field-effect transistor, even when the number of field-effect transistors in the pixel is increased. A display device is provided with a plurality of pixels in which a plurality of field-effect transistors including a semiconductor layer which is separated from a semiconductor substrate and is bonded to a supporting substrate having an insulating surface are stacked with a planarization layer interposed therebetween.

A highly specific and versatile surface chemistry for immobilization of amine-terminated probes is disclosed. A bi-layered polymer thin film serves as the platform for coupling the probes, which are preferably oligonucleotides. The process involves sequentially coating a substrate with polyamine and polyacid anhydride. Hydrolyzed polyacid anhydride groups may be converted to non-hydrolyzed groups at about 100° C. prior to probe attachment. The process of coating the substrate requires no harsh chemical pretreatment of substrates such as RCA or Piranha cleaning. In addition, simple thermal activation of the anhydride groups has a low requirement for storage, leading to a long shelf life of modified surfaces. The disclosed surface chemistry is especially compatible with microfabrication processes, and its effective application to magnetic biosensors is demonstrated.

The present invention relates to a single crystal micromechanical resonator. In particular, the resonator includes a lithium niobate or lithium tantalate suspended plate. Also provided are improved microfabrication methods of making resonators, which does not rely on complicated wafer bonding, layer fracturing, and mechanical polishing steps. Rather, the methods allow the resonator and its components to be formed from a single crystal.

A graphene device includes a graphene layer and a back gate electrode connected to apply a global electrical bias to the graphene from a first surface of the graphene. At least two graphene device electrodes are each connected to a corresponding and distinct region of the graphene at a second graphene surface. A dielectric layer blanket-coats the second graphene surface and the device electrodes. At least one top gate electrode is disposed on the dielectric layer and extends over a distinct one of the device electrodes and at least a portion of a corresponding graphene region. Each top gate electrode is connected to apply an electrical charge carrier bias to the graphene region over which that top gate electrode extends to produce a selected charge carrier type in that graphene region. Such a carbon structure can be exposed to a beam of electrons to compensate for extrinsic doping of the carbon.

Provided are a graphene structure and a method for producing the same in which graphene can be patterned with high precision, and thereby microfabrication of electronic device elements and electronic devices using graphene is possible and the manufacturing cost can be notably reduced. A resist film is precisely patterned on a substrate, hydrophilized films are formed in openings of the resist film, and then GO is selectively fixed on the portions of the hydrophilized films by a chemical bond utilizing the hydrophilicity of the GO, and the GO is reduced to obtain a graphene structure in which graphene is selectively fixed to only the portions of the hydrophilized films. Thus, the graphene structure is constituted by disposing graphene on a substrate and forming a bond, by hydrophilization treatment, between the hydrophilized portion of the substrate and the graphene and/or between the unhydrophobized portion of the substrate and the graphene.

The performance of many macroscopic structures (those whose dimensions are on the order of centimeters, meters, or even larger) can be greatly improved by covering their surfaces with microstructures. There are several applications in which "large," microstructure-covered sheets are useful. An apparatus and method are disclosed for forming high aspect ratio microstructures ("HARMs") on planar and non-planar surfaces, using a modification of the LIGA microfabrication process. A free-standing polymer sheet is lithographically patterned with through-holes. The polymer sheet is then pressed against, clamped to, or otherwise attached to a conductive substrate in such a way that the patterned holes in the sheet are not blocked. Subsequent electroplating produces well-defined HARM structures on the planar or non-planar surface, in shapes that are complementary to the lithographically patterned through-holes in the polymer. The polymer may then be removed (e.g., by melting, dissolution, or burning). Various planar and non-planar surfaces have been covered with microstructures. Where the metal surface is non-planar, the polymer sheet may be heated or otherwise made sufficiently flexible to conform to the metal surface, preferably by heat-shrinking to assure firm contact. The process may be used to electroplate microstructures directly onto metal surfaces generally-not just onto metal surfaces that have been specially prepared for LIGA processes, as has previously been the case.

A microfiltration apparatus and method for separating cells, such as circulating tumor cells, from a sample using a microfiltration device having a top porous membrane and a bottom porous membrane. The porous membranes are formed from parylene and assembled using microfabrication techniques. The porous membranes are arranged so that the pores in the top membrane are offset from the pores in the bottom membrane.

The invention is a series of soft lithographic methods for the microfabrication of biopoilymer scaffolds for use in tissue engineering and the development of artificial organs. The methods present a wide range of possibilities to construct two- and three-dimensional scaffolds with desired characteristics according to the final application. The methods utilize an elastomer mold which the biopolymer scaffold is cast. The methods allow for the rapid and inexpensive production of biopolymer scaffolds with limited specialized equipment and user expertise.

A method of fabrication and device with holes for electrical conduction made by preparing a photosensitive glass substrate comprising at least silica, lithium oxide, aluminum oxide, and cerium oxide, masking a design layout comprising one or more holes to form one or more electrical conduction paths on the photosensitive glass substrate, exposing at least one portion of the photosensitive glass substrate to an activating energy source, exposing the photosensitive glass substrate to a heating phase of at least ten minutes above its glass transition temperature, cooling the photosensitive glass substrate to transform at least part of the exposed glass to a crystalline material to form a glass-crystalline substrate and etching the glass-crystalline substrate with an etchant solution to form the one or more depressions or through holes for electrical conduction in the device.

Embodiments of the invention are directed to a device that combines microfabrication, microfluidic, and surface micropatterning techniques to create a multi-compartment neuronal culturing device that has application across a number of different neuroscience uses. Devices configured in accordance with the invention allow directed growth of neurites and isolation of neurites from their cell bodies. The device can use hydrostatic pressure to isolate insults to one compartment and, thus, expose localized areas of neurons to insults. Due to the high resistance of the microgrooves for fluid transport, insults are contained in the neuritic compartment without appreciable leakage into the somal compartment for a certain period of time (e.g., over 15 h).

The present invention is a MEMS-based two-phase LHP (loop heat pipe) and CPL (capillary pumped loop) using semiconductor grade silicon and microlithographic/anisotrophic etching techniques to achieve a planar configuration. The principal working material is silicon (and compatible borosilicate glass where necessary), particularly compatible with the cooling needs for electronic and computer chips and package cooling. The microloop heat pipes (μLHP™) utilize cutting edge microfabrication techniques. The device has no pump or moving parts, and is capable of moving heat at high power densities, using revolutionary coherent porous silicon (CPS) wicks. The CPS wicks minimize packaging thermal mismatch stress and improves strength-to-weight ratio. Also burst-through pressures can be controlled as the diameter of the coherent pores can be controlled on a sub-micron scale. The two phase planar operation provides extremely low specific thermal resistance (20-60W/cm²). The operation is dependent upon a unique micropatterened CPS wick which contains up to millions per square centimeter of stacked uniform micro-through-capillaries in semiconductor-grade silicon, which serve as the capillary “engine,” as opposed to the stochastic distribution of pores in the typical heat pipe wick. As with all heat pipes, cooling occurs by virtue of the extraction of heat by the latent heat of phase change of the operating fluid into vapor. In the cooling of a laptop computer processor the device could be attached to the processor during laptop assembly. Consistent with efforts to miniaturize electronics components, the current invention can be directly integrated with a unpackaged chip. For applications requiring larger cooling surface areas, the planar evaporators can be spread out in a matrix and integrally connected through properly sized manifold systems.

This invention discloses a novel microneedle system, phase-transition microneedle patch, which overcomes all the limitations that existing microneedles encountered. The microneedle patch is formed of an integrated polymeric piece consisting of a microneedle array and a plate (called holding plate) on which the needles stand. The microneedles of the patch are hard and strong enough to penetrate epidermis at dry state but turn to be hydrogel state soft and permeable to hydrophilic agents when absorbing body fluid. The hydrogel state of the patch is a hydrophilic network held by physical or chemical cross-linking junctions. The pores of the network are opened up by body fluid for drugs and macromolecules to diffuse through. The polymeric materials used to form the microneedle patch have been used in the pharmaceutical field for years and have proven compatibility with the skin and with proteins. The drugs may be stored in the matrix of the microneedle array as well as the holding plate so that the requirement for high dose applications may be full filled. In addition, molding (casting) of this type of microneedle patch is simple, easy to achieve and needs no microfabrication systems and organic solvents. By a programmed molding (casting), the patch may be assembled in a layered structure with desired drug concentration in each layer, respectively. Due to this design, a programmed pulse or a zero order release of drugs may easily be achieved. In addition, delicate proteins loaded in the patch are kept in a dry and hydrophilic glassy state before being released, the most favored state for protein storage. Finally, during the swelling-based drug release, the microneedle patch increases their thickness gradually between the skin and the back cover (which holds the needles) lo create a sustained pressure to ensure good contact of the microneedles inside epidermis.

It is an object of the present invention to suppress an influence of voltage drop due to wiring resistance to make an image quality of a display device uniform. In addition, it is also an object of the present invention to suppress delay due to a wiring for electrically connecting a driving circuit portion to an input/output terminal to improve an operation speed in the driving circuit portion.

In the present invention, a wiring including copper for realizing lowered wiring resistance, subjected to microfabrication, is used as a wiring used for a semiconductor device and a barrier conductive film for preventing diffusion of copper is provided for a TFT as a part of the wiring including copper to form the wiring including copper without diffusion of copper into a semiconductor layer of the TFT. The wiring including copper is a wiring including a laminate film of at least a conductive film containing copper as its main component, subjected to microfabricaiton, and the barrier conductive film.

Thin-film multi-electrode arrays (MEA) having one or more electrically conductive beams conformally encapsulated in a seamless block of electrically insulating material, and methods of fabricating such MEAs using reproducible, microfabrication processes. One or more electrically conductive traces are formed on scaffold material that is subsequently removed to suspend the traces over a substrate by support portions of the trace beam in contact with the substrate. By encapsulating the suspended traces, either individually or together, with a single continuous layer of an electrically insulating material, a seamless block of electrically insulating material is formed that conforms to the shape of the trace beam structure, including any trace backings which provide suspension support. Electrical contacts, electrodes, or leads of the traces are exposed from the encapsulated trace beam structure by removing the substrate.

Conductivity-selective lateral etching of III-nitride materials is described. Methods and structures for making vertical cavity surface emitting lasers with distributed Bragg reflectors via electrochemical etching are described. Layer-selective, lateral electrochemical etching of multi-layer stacks is employed to form semiconductor/air DBR structures adjacent active multiple quantum well regions of the lasers. The electrochemical etching techniques are suitable for high-volume production of lasers and other III-nitride devices, such as lasers, HEMT transistors, power transistors, MEMs structures, and LEDs.