Paper PS2+BI-ThA8
Patterning of Plasma Polymers for Bioarrays

Thursday, October 18, 2007, 4:20 pm, Room 607

Modern day technological advancements have allowed us to overcome critical challenges posed in proteomic research. As a direct result of developments in miniaturisation and automation, the current market has seen ever growing numbers and varieties of high density arraying slides being used for proteome research and application. Needless to say that these developments have been matched with state of art instrumentation and data analysis packages to achieve true automated multiplex analysis. Yet, issues like non-specific adsorption of biomolecules to solid substrate and control over the orientation during immobilization need addressing. Key to these issues could be the precise control over surface modification and patterning. Plasma polymerisation presents a versatile approach to surface modification of these devices. The range of monomers available for plasma polymerisation makes this manufacturing approach even more suitable for use in systems where multiple coatings with specific properties are required for a single device. The ability to spatially define reactive regions to reduce non-specific background adsorption is integral to this project. In this study we use a range of patterning techniques including photolithography and physical masks and compare the resultant pattern resolution and chemical functionality using XPS, ToF-SIMS and AFM. Plasma polymerisation when used in conjugation with photolithography has allowed us to simultaneously obtain high spatial and chemical resolution. Multivariate analysis of ToF-SIMS spectral and image data has allowed us to critically study and address issues associated with the chemical specificity and spatial resolution of the multilayer patterning approach. Our results suggest that complex multilayer plasma coatings can be produced without compromising the chemical properties of the deposited polymer layers.