Recently, Jim has purchased a Makerbot 2x printer for our group. I’ve spent the last few weeks printing and debugging. It has the capability to print many different types of material, along with 2 separate nozzles. I have been able…

We’ve been moving to a new format for chips, trying to standardize an active area that has good yield and allows fluidic access through the chip itself. The SEPCON outer dimensions have been reused (5.4 mm x 5.4 mm). It’s…

I believe that we can use MgF2 nanomembranes as electroosmotic pumps, along the same lines as pnc-Si and NPN materials. To first get a sense of how much pumping I would expect, I wanted to know what the zeta potential…

I have been developing a microsystem for Paul Dunman’s group that will allow them to flow in bacteria, immobilize them on antibodies, and then subject them to varying concentrations of antibiotics. The full system will incorporate a fluidic mixer and…

Kevin was kind enough to share his presentation with us from his visit this July:   Here is the link on Owncloud:   http://drive.bbe.23a.myftpupload.com/public.php?service=files&t=c3eceae62439a478b4d1b676924e45ee

Last week, I worked with Kevin to create a prototype cell culture device that could be compatible with his Raman system in Nottingham. The space constraints of the physical system are challenging: The overall working distance of the system must…

In my last post, I described a new process for reducing fluoropolymer build up during RIE. Unfortunately, the new process had substantially lower yields (half) than the process I was using before. In this post, I am detailing my attempts to…

I have a preliminary result from Kevin that there is a layer of fluoropolymer remaining on my MgF2 freestanding nanomembranes (which could explain some of the carbon signal in EDX from my previous posts). This would create another unnecessary signal…

Glavan et al 2013 Lab on a Chip This paper from the Whitesides group details an interesting way to fabricate paper-based microfluidics. They treat ordinary paper with a fluorinated silanization process to render it hydrophobic, and  use a Silhouette cutter…

This week, I tried to make a large number of MgF2 nanomembranes for my collaboration with Kevin Webb.   I wanted to keep the evaporated surface as pristine as possible, so instead of using the Kapton tape to attach the chips…