A polymer-based microfluidic device for immunosensing biochips

This paper describes the design, fabrication, and test of a PDMS/PMMA-laminated microfluidic device for an immunosensing biochip. A poly(dimethyl siloxane)(PDMS) top substrate molded by polymer casting and a poly(methyl methacrylate)(PMMA) bottom substrate fabricated by hot embossing are bonded with pressure and hermetically sealed. Two inlet ports and an air vent are opened through the PDMS top substrate, while gold electrodes for electrochemical biosensing are patterned onto the PMMA bottom substrate. The analyte sample is loaded from the sample inlet port to the detection chamber by capillary force, without any external intervening forces. For this and to control the time duration of sample fluid in each compartment of the device, including the inlet port, diffusion barrier, reaction chamber, flow-delay neck, and detection chamber, the fluid conduit has been designed with various geometries of channel width, depth, and shape. Especially, the fluid path has been designed so that the sample flow naturally stops after filling the detection chamber to allow sufficient time for biochemical reaction and subsequent washing steps. As model immunosensing tests for the microfluidic device, functionalizations of ferritin and biotin to the sensing surfaces on gold electrodes and their biospecific interactions with antiferritin antiserum and streptavidin have been investigated. An electrochemical detection method for immunosensing by biocatalyzed precipitation has been developed and applied for signal registration. With the biochip, the whole immunosensing processes could be completed within 30 min.