AVS 60th International Symposium and Exhibition
    Manufacturing Science and Technology Tuesday Sessions
       Session MS+AS+BA+BI+PS+TF-TuM

Invited Paper MS+AS+BA+BI+PS+TF-TuM1
Microfluidics for Chemical Analysis

Tuesday, October 29, 2013, 8:00 am, Room 202 B

Session: IPF 2013-Manufacturing Challenges for Emerging Technologies: IV. Manufacturing Challenges: The Life Sciences
Presenter: L. Carr, Agilent Technologies
Authors: L. Carr, Agilent Technologies
Q. Bai, Agilent Technologies
R. Brennen, Agilent Technologies
S. Post, Agilent Technologies
G. Staples, Agilent Technologies
K. Seaward, Agilent Technologies
H. Yin, Agilent Technologies
L. Martinez, Agilent Technologies
D. Ritchey, Agilent Technologies
K. Killeen, Agilent Technologies
Correspondent: Click to Email
Chemical analysis is an essential tool for pharmaceuticals, environmental testing, food safety, forensics, energy and many other industries. The need for faster, more accurate and more sensitive measurements continuously pushes the limits of measurement technology and creates opportunities for advances in chemical analysis instruments and applications. One way in which this need can be addressed is by incorporating microfluidic devices in High Pressure Liquid Chromatography (HPLC). Pressure-based microfluidic chips have enabled a new class of reproducible integrated workflow devices that combine sample preparation, enrichment, and HPLC separation with an integrated ESI/MS (Electrospray Ionization/Mass Spectrometry) interface for high sensitivity nanoflow Liquid Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry (LC-MS). These devices have most commonly been fabricated using polymer, ceramic, and glass materials but the next generation of higher capacity and throughput microfluidic chips for LC-MS requires materials and structures capable of ultra high pressure operation. In this work, we describe the fabrication and performance of diffusion-bonded metal chips for high performance nano- and microflow LC-MS operation. The microfabrication technology required to make these devices includes semiconductor fabrication standards such as photolithography and thin film deposition, as well as laser ablation, electrochemical etching, and diffusion bonding. These novel metal devices exhibit state of the art performance in resolution and throughput for microfluidic LC-MS chips. These chips are an example of improvements in measurement sensitivity, resolution, speed, and ease of use that have been made possible by utilizing microfluidic devices for chemical analysis.