Abstract
Owing to the well-established nanochannel fabrication technology in 2D nanoscales with high resolution, reproducibility, and flexibility, glass is the leading, ideal, and unsubstitutable material for the fabrication of nanofluidic chips. However, high temperature (~1,000 °C) and a vacuum condition are usually required in the conventional fusion bonding process, unfortunately impeding the nanofluidic applications and even the development of the whole field of nanofluidics. We present a direct bonding of fused silica glass nanofluidic chips at low temperature, around 200 °C in ambient air, through a two-step plasma surface activation process which consists of an O2 reactive ion etching plasma treatment followed by a nitrogen microwave radical activation. The low-temperature bonded glass nanofluidic chips not only had high bonding strength but also could work continuously without leakage during liquid introduction driven by air pressure even at 450 kPa, a very high pressure which can meet the requirements of most nanofluidic operations. Owing to the mild conditions required in the bonding process, the method has the potential to allow the integration of a range of functional elements into nanofluidic chips during manufacture, which is nearly impossible in the conventional high-temperature fusion bonding process. Therefore, we believe that the developed low-temperature bonding would be very useful and contribute to the field of nanofluidics.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Tegenfeldt JO, Prinz C, Cao H, Huang RL, Austin RH, Chou SY, Cox EC, Sturm JC (2004) Anal Bioanal Chem 378:1678–1692
Kovarik ML, Jacobson SC (2009) Anal Chem 81:7133–7140
Piruska A, Gong M, Sweedler JV, Bohn PW (2010) Chem Soc Rev 39:1060–1072
Napoli M, Eijkel JC, Pennathur S (2010) Lab Chip 10:957–985
Xu Y, Jang K, Yamashita T, Tanaka Y, Mawatari K, Kitamori T Anal Bioanal Chem 10.1007/s00216-011-5296-5
Tsukahara T, Mawatari K, Hibara A, Kitamori T (2008) Anal Bioanal Chem 391:2745–2752
Mao P, Han J (2005) Lab Chip 5:837–844
Mellors JS, Gorbounov V, Ramsey RS, Ramsey JM (2008) Anal Chem 80:6881–6887
Xu Y, Sato K, Mawatari K, Konno T, Jang K, Ishihara K, Kitamori T (2010) Adv Mater 22:3017–3021
Chen LX, Luo GA, Liu KH, Ma JP, Yao B, Yan YC, Wang YM (2006) Sensor Actuat B-Chem 119:335–344
Xu Y, Takai M, Konno T, Ishihara K (2007) Lab Chip 7:199–206
Wei J, Nai SML, Wong CKS, Sun Z, Lee LC (2003) IEEE T Adv Packaging 26:289–294
Fonslow BR, Bowser MT (2005) Anal Chem 77:5706–5710
Queste S, Salut R, Rauch JY, Malek CGK (2010) Microsyst Technol 16:1485–1493
Wang HY, Foote RS, Jacobson SC, Schneibel JH, Ramsey JM (1997) Sensor Actuat B-Chem 45:199–207
Carroll S, Crain MM, Naber JF, Keynton RS, Walsh KM, Baldwin RP (2008) Lab Chip 8:1564–1569
Zucker O, Langheinrich W, Kulozik M, Goebel H (1993) Sensor Actuat A-Phys 36:227–231
Galchev TV, Welch WC, Najafi KJ (2011) Micromech Microeng 21:045020
Visser MM, Weichel S, de Reus R, Hanneborg AB (2002) Sensor Actuat A-Phys 97–8:434–440
Suga T, Kim TH, Howlader MMR (2004) Proc ECTC Conf 1:484–490
Howlader MMR, Suga T, Itoh H, Lee TH, Kim MJ (2009) J Electrochem Soc 156:H846–H851
Wang CX, Htgurash E, Suga T (2008) Jpn J Appl Phys 47:2526–2530
Howlader MMR, Selvaganapathy PR, Deen MJ, Suga T (2011) IEEE J Sel Top Quantum Electron 17:689–703
Maszara WP, Goetz G, Caviglia A, Mckitterick JB (1988) J Appl Phys 64:4943–4950
Vallin O, Jonsson K, Lindberg U (2005) Mat Sci Eng R 50:109–165
Howlader MMR, Kibria MG, Zhang F, Kim MJ (2010) Talanta 82:508–515
Acknowledgment
This work was supported by a Grant-in-Aid for Specially Promoted Research (21000007) of the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) and SCF (Special Coordination Funds for Promoting Science and Technology) of MEXT of Japan. Dr. Dong thanks the AQSIQ Public Sector-Oriented Research Fund (no. 201010017) for supporting his study. The authors also thank Mr. Akira Yamauchi, Bondtech Company Ltd., for technical support and discussion.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding authors
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Xu, Y., Wang, C., Dong, Y. et al. Low-temperature direct bonding of glass nanofluidic chips using a two-step plasma surface activation process. Anal Bioanal Chem 402, 1011–1018 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00216-011-5574-2
Received:
Revised:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00216-011-5574-2