Microchip Two-Layer Structure for Air Inflow Suppression
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Solution Overview
Problem
In microchips used for nucleic acid amplification, air inflow due to needle puncture can prevent sample solution from reaching reagent sealing spaces, leading to inefficient nucleic acid amplification, and increasing thickness to suppress air inflow worsens heat distribution uniformity, making high-precision inspection difficult.
Innovation Solution
A microchip with a two-layer structure featuring a gas-impermeable first plate-shaped part and an elastic self-sealing second plate-shaped part, reinforced with a film stuck to the surface opposite the first plate-shaped part to prevent needle deflection and air entry, maintaining a depressurized reaction space and improving heat distribution.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If the second plate-shaped part is made thicker to suppress needle deflection and air inflow, then reliability is improved, but manufacturing precision deteriorates due to non-uniform heat distribution
Solution Approach 1:
The microchip is divided into a two-layer structure with a first plate-shaped part and a second plate-shaped part. The second plate-shaped part has a thickness of 50 µm to 2 mm, which is thicker than conventional single-layer chips, providing sufficient rigidity to prevent needle deflection and air inflow while maintaining manufacturability through the segmented design.
Solution Approach 2:
The microchip uses a composite structure combining a first plate-shaped part and a second plate-shaped part made of different materials or with different properties. This composite design allows the second plate-shaped part to have increased thickness for structural stability while the overall system maintains thermal uniformity through the properties of the first plate-shaped part.
2Stability of the object's composition
If the microchip is made thicker to suppress needle deflection, then stability is improved, but heat distribution uniformity deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
By segmenting the chip into two plate-shaped parts, the second plate-shaped part can be made thicker (50 µm to 2 mm) to provide structural stability and prevent needle deflection, while the first plate-shaped part compensates for thermal issues, allowing the overall system to maintain heat distribution uniformity.
3Manufacturing precision
If the second plate-shaped part is made thinner to improve heat distribution, then manufacturing precision is improved, but reliability deteriorates due to increased air inflow risk
Solution Approach 1:
The segmentation into two plate-shaped parts allows the second plate-shaped part to have optimal thickness (50 µm to 2 mm) for preventing air inflow, while the first plate-shaped part ensures heat distribution uniformity, resolving the trade-off between reliability and manufacturing precision.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The solution effectively suppresses air inflow and non-uniform heat distribution, ensuring efficient nucleic acid amplification and high-precision inspection by maintaining a stable reaction environment.
Implementation Method 1
the second plate-shape part is made of an elastic material, which allows for self-sealing of any holes made by puncturing or the like due to its own elastic deformation
Implementation Method 2
a reaction space depressurized with respect to the atmospheric pressure is formed between the first plate-shaped part and the second plate-shaped part
Data Source
Figure 1
Figure 2
Figure 3
AI summary
A microchip 1 equipped with a chip main body 2 in which a reaction space 3 depressurized with respect to an atmospheric pressure is formed, in which the chip main body 2 has a two-layer structure of a first plate-shaped part 7 having gas impermeability, and a second plate-shaped part 8 having a self-sealing property, which is laminated on one surface of the first plate-shaped part 7, and the reaction space 3 is formed between the first plate-shaped part 7 and the second plate-shaped part 8.