Fabrication of Centimeter Long, Ultra-Low Aspect Ratio Nanochannel Networks in Borosilicate Glass Substrates

Nanofluidic devices have a broad range of applications resulting from the dominance of surface-fluid interactions. Examples include molecular gating, sample preconcentration, and sample injection. Manipulation of small fluid samples is ideal for micro total analysis systems or lab on chip devices which perform multiple unit operations on a single chip. In this paper, fabrication procedures for two different ultra-low aspect ratio (ULAR) channel network designs are presented. The ULAR provides increased throughput compared to higher aspect ratio features with the same critical dimensions. Channel network designs allow for integration between microscale and nanoscale fluidic networks. A modified calcium assisted glass–glass bonding procedure was developed to fabricate chemically uniform, all glass nanochannels. A polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS)-glass adhesive bonding procedure was also developed as adhesive bonding allows for more robust fabrication with lower sensitivity to surface defects. The fabrication schemes presented allow for a broad array of available parameters for facile selection of device fabrication techniques depending on desired applications for lab on chip devices.