Explosive vaporization in microenclosures

The explosive vaporization of a liquid above planar microheaters induces a fast increase of pressure that is exploited in many thermally driven actuators in MEMS components such as ink jet printer cartridges, pumps, valves and optical switches. Some of these components need to enclose the working fluid as it is the case of valves in which the heated liquid is separated from the flow that it regulates by a flexible membrane. To achieve a better insight into the thermodynamic processes involved, the present work investigates experimentally an enclosed microsystem designed and fabricated for this purpose, composed of a small liquid volume (8 nL) heated by a electric pulse for 2 μs supplied to a planar microfabricated heater. During the heating, the temperature-induced change in resistance can be determined by imposing a defined current and measuring the voltage drop over the heater. While the chip is based on a silicon substrate with integrated platinum heaters and sensors, the structure enclosing the fluid (cavity and fluidic access to it) is made of a silicone elastomer, poly(dimethylsiloxane) (PDMS). This transparent material is widely used in microfluidics and allows for flexible and transparent walls that can be deflected by increasing the pressure inside the cavity. To seal the system the inlet and the outlet were closed by blocking them with a metallic stab. In the present work we visualize vaporization of isopropanol in contact with a suddenly heated planar resistor for two different cavity heights, 150 μm and 16 μm. The rate of temperature rise of the thin liquid layer in contact with the heater is of the order of 10⁷ K s⁻¹ for a pulse duration of 2 μs. We compare bubble growth and collapse for the open and closed systems. Compared to the open system, the bubble growth in the closed system is considerably damped.     

Towards single biomolecule handling and characterization by MEMS

Applications of microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) technology are widespread in both industrial and research fields providing miniaturized smart tools. In this review, we focus on MEMS applications aiming at manipulations and characterization of biomaterials at the single molecule level. Four topics are discussed in detail to show the advantages and impact of MEMS tools for biomolecular manipulations. They include the microthermodevice for rapid temperature alternation in real-time microscopic observation, a microchannel with microelectrodes for isolating and immobilizing a DNA molecule, and microtweezers to manipulate a bundle of DNA molecules directly for analyzing its conductivity. The feasibilities of each device have been shown by conducting specific biological experiments. Therefore, the development of MEMS devices for single molecule analysis holds promise to overcome the disadvantages of the conventional technique for biological experiments and acts as a powerful strategy in molecular biology. Figure Towards single bio molecular handling and characterization by MEMS     

Millisecond analysis of double stranded DNA with fluorescent intercalator by micro-thermocontrol-device

Study of interaction between DNA and intercalator at molecular level is important to understand the mechanisms of DNA replication and repair. A micro-fabricated local heating thermodevice was adapted to perform denaturation experiments of DNA with fluorescent intercalator on millisecond time scale. Response time of complete unzipping of double stranded DNA, 16 μm in length, was measured to be around 5 min by commercial thermocycler. Response time of quenching of double stranded DNA with fluorescent intercalator SYBR Green was measured to be 10 ms. Thus, quenching properties owing to strand unzipping and denaturation at base pair level were distinguished. This method has provided easy access to measure this parameter and may be a powerful methodology in analyzing biomolecules on millisecond time scale.